TORONTO - Canada's housing market lost some steam in July as the fevered pace of new home and condo construction cooled, especially in Ontario, after prices rose at their slowest pace in over six years in June in the face of sharply slower economic growth.
Canada's national economy "is flat on its back" after two straight monthly declines in employment, Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, said Monday.
As a result, he said, people are "anxious and worried about the economic outlook," (and) "are not inclined to make big-ticket purchases like homes."
He also said the housing slowdown comes as a kind of payback after "unsustainably strong" building activity in past years and prices being "overly high for too long."
Helene Begin, senior economist with Desjardins Securities, said "it is possible that poor weather conditions, particularly in central and eastern Canada, magnified the decline in construction."
Both regions have experienced record amounts of rain and severe storms over the past couple of months.
The Canadian economy has been hurt by the slowdown in the United States, brought on by the worldwide credit crunch, which has savaged Canada's export-sensitive forestry and automotive industries, leading to thousands of layoff announcements.
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1 comment:
So the market feel on it`s back. But what goes up must go down. After the exotic 2007, something bad was bound to happen. But I saw some reports that support a theory that if 2007 wasn`t so strong, the numbers we see today would pretty much be the same. Compared with 2006, it all looks good. Yes the U.S. economy influenced us all, but with Canada`s export, not all is as bad as it looks. And being "flat on our back" doesn`t mean that we`re beaten. Saskatoon and Alberta are seeing good times despite all. Being a Toronto realtor, I have no other choice but to stay optimistic. It`s just a storm and all storms pass eventually.
Jill
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