Triple Crown

Last week, the Bank of Canada reviewed the financial system and downplayed fears that the Canadian economy was in serious jeopardy from a potential real estate market correction. About time! We are NOT going to suffer a U.S.-style melt-down. If a big drop in home prices were to occur in the Vancouver and Toronto regions, (which Is unlikely), it wouldn't drag the rest of the country down with it. As the Bank of Canada sees it, a full-on bust in the Toronto and Vancouver regions would have only “modest direct spillovers to housing markets in the rest of the country.” Most experts do not see anything like a full bust coming, albeit sensationalist reporting from, for example, CTV News quoting David Mandani, senior Canadian economist of Capital Economics on Monday continues to scare homeowners who haven’t done their research. Read Article HERE

Three forces have come together in a “perfect storm” to create Victoria’s hot real estate market: environment, economics, and exposure. It’s no secret Victoria is considered the “California of Canada”, and Boomers across Canada have moving to Victoria in mind as they make their retirement plans. In a 2015 survey, over fourteen percent of retiring Canadian Boomers surveyed stated they would like to retire in Victoria. And no wonder! Victoria has the highest number of annual snow-free days of any major city in Canada. On the rare occasion it does snow, it never stays for long. Blossoms begin appearing in February, the earliest in the country. We enjoy over 2,000 hours of sunlight annually, less than half the rain as Vancouver, and the temperature rarely drops below freezing or climbs above 25°C. While Victoria home prices have surged, driven by offshore buyers, most off these buyers are not foreigners arriving after a long overseas flight, but rather a 90-minute ferry ride from jus