I don't blame you. Indeed we haven't heard much of it happening in Canada. Lets see how situation unfolds in the next couple of years. When the rest of the world will start saying how good our financial system is, only then I might buy it. What I am cautious about is that until now everything we have learned from this recession was mostly told by the officials (or the big banks). This alerts me. Regards, --
"I disagree. We have same sh..t here. I sold real estate property in 2008, and the buyer was approved for an interest-only mortgage by her bank. If this doesn't sound like sub-prime to you, than I don't know what is." tradecalm, are you aware of the terms of the loan , how much did she place down , how long is interest only in force, what are the parameters after that term ,etc? In the U.S. mortgage brokers were creating loans for 110% of value with a small portion kicking back as the down payment. Practices at this level of absurdity were the genesis of the implosion.
Vancouver is consistently rated as one of the best cities in the world to live in. It's the North American favorite of the Chinese, it will attract Asian investment funds for a considerable time.
The buyer of my property put Zero down. The realtor could not tell me more details on the buyer because realtor was representing both: buyer and seller, and was just a messenger. We agressively priced property anticipating further decline. The market just started it's nosedive. (dec 2007). The US is an extreme case from what you're saying, however I saw cash backs here, but I think it's the combinatin of many factors that turns the market south. This interesting source has some interesting Canadian Real Estate Charts: http://www.canadabubble.com/charts/695-canadian-housing-price-chart.html