Haley Chang

Balance and stability, two words that recently seemed foreign and unlikely, at least in reference to the Canadian Housing Industry. Now that the economic downturn is fading in our rear view mirror, Canadians are beginning to rebuild their financial situations- and are finding themselves in new territory- in an economy that holds some muted promise, if not cautious optimism. Financial wounds are healing, but frail. 

Looking forward to 2011, with conservative promises of growth, expectations for price appreciation brought back to earth, and aggressive mortgage provisions being rolled out, how is buying and selling a house in this country different than it was pre-recession? How have Canadians and our government’s attitudes changed toward debt and spending?  What regions will expect growth in their market this year, and why?   And how does this impact professionals in the Real Estate and Mortgage industries?

According to many, there will be modest growth through 2011. Robert Hogue, Senior Economist with the Royal Bank of Canada agrees, telling PropertyWire.Ca; “As an upwards force, we expect economic recovery to continue and generate more jobs- so that means more income available to households. Overall, we think that those forces on the housing market will be mostly offsetting—if anything, it might be a little more on the upside.  We are expecting a very slight increase over the year, taking into account some volatility, around the trend- modest increase in resales in Canada. Probably around 1% or less.”

Royal Lepage also predicts good things in the pipeline for the housing industry, adjusting their 2011 forecast at the eleventh hour to reflect the positive trends they saw towards the end of 2010. Phil Soper, President of Royal LePage, told PropertyWire.Ca; "The change in our forecast from Q3 2010 to Q1 2011 was driven almost entirely by a combination of the global economy and prospect of continued inexpensive mortgage funding. Both improved from Q3 2010 to the end of 2010. That allowed us to take a more optimistic view with transaction levels and their impact on home prices in the next year.”

Soper believes that this positive trend for the housing market will spread across the country; "In general,   the entire country is getting a lift from improved economic conditions. Employment levels, just general government revenues and corporate profits are rising right across the country. As a result, everywhere in Canada will see an improvement.  That said, we don’t believe that the improvement will be entirely equal. We believe that, for example in Alberta, the housing slump that pre-dates the global recession is finally going to see some light at the end of the tunnel. Our forecast for Alberta is based upon those handsome corporate profits in the energy sector spreading to other sectors and that translating to increased hiring and the classic labour shortages and net migration that causes a housing shortage that puts upward pressure both on prices and unit sales- more people want to get in and sell their properties.”