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5 signs Canada is in the grips of real estate mania
Canada, we have a problem
Realtors’ signs are hung outside a newly sold property in a Vancouver neighbourhood where houses regularly sell for C$3-C$4 million ($2.7-3.6 million) September 9, 2014. Chinese investors’ global hunt for prime real estate is helping drive Vancouver home prices to record highs and the city, long among top destinations for wealthy mainland buyers, is feeling the bonanza’s unwelcome side-effects. The latest wave of Chinese money is flowing into luxury hot spots. But it has also started driving up housing costs elsewhere in a city which already ranks as North America’s least affordable urban market. Julie Gordon/Reuters
Not a month goes by that Canada doesn’t set a new record for rising house prices. From the fact prices in Canada have far surpassed what the U.S. saw during its housing bubble, to the similar arguments used by those who deny there’s a bubble, here are the signs Canada has a housing problem.