CREB says housing market has room to grow amidst overvalued prices
Posted Mar 4, 2013 3:40 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A new report says Canada’s housing prices are overvalued by at least 20 per cent.
U.S. agency Fitch Ratings says the high price tags across the country, may not be benefitting homebuyers or sellers.
However, Alberta may be in it’s own bubble.
The report puts Alberta on the low end of the scale, overvalued by 15 per cent.
Chief economist from the Calgary Real Estate Board Ann-Marie Lurie tells 660News Alberta is unique from the rest of the country.
Lurie says prices in places like Toronto and Vancouver are at higher heights than they were in 2008, whereas Calgary has yet to reach those numbers again.
“Prices haven’t really increased much, and our income is improving, so that tells you our ratio might be improving,” she says.
While the report says the average housing price is now five times the average disposable income, Lurie says the numbers for Calgary are a little bit skewed.
She says higher incomes mean higher home prices are more affordable, and that sales will continue to grow in 2013.
