Many believed that the Canadian property market would withstand the struggles that the United States property market has seen. Yet it has become more evident than ever that potential pitfalls still exist.
The Toronto Real Estate Board reported that there was an 11% drop in property resales in the area. Resales totalled just 6015 units in the month of February.
Property prices have increased to an average of CA $382,048 in February, which was a 4% increase from February 2006 compared to February 2007. Several factors are being blamed for this including poor weather conditions, as well as the city's transfer tax law that just went into effect.
Suburbs of Toronto saw a drop by just 9% while the city itself saw a drop in property sales by 14%. Additionally, Canadian building permits also fell for the third straight month in new residential projects. Reported by Statistics Canada, the drop was 2.9% in January.
The United States economic slowdown is being blamed for the Canadian economy struggles. While politicians continue to say that the two countries are completely independent and that a US slowdown will not overly hurt the economy, evidence in the property market does not show this.
