Canadian sales of real estate has fallen sharply. According to the press, Vancouver home owners would rather not sell at all than accept a discounted price. Of course, that is typical in any market. There is always the resistance to a price decline and insistence that they will hold until the market returns. Canada has bee resistant largely due to the huge demand from Asia in moving to Canada. However, as China rises, the very trends that supported Canadian real estate will be diminished.
The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver reported that there were only 1,351 sales in the region in January 2013. This is the second lowest for the month since 2001 and 18.7% below the 10-year average. Housing prices are off on average some 6%+. Keep in mind that Canada benefited tremendously when there was concerned that Hong Kong would be handed back to China. Those fears are now gone and the Canadian real estate market will reflect the normal supply and demand trends rather than the stimulated price fed by external capital inflows.
