House prices expected to fall for at least a year

Garry Marr, Canwest News Service

Published: Tuesday, November 11, 2008

The average price of a home sold in Canada will fall this year for the first time in a decade and might not even recover by 2010, the Canadian Real Estate Association said Monday.

The Ottawa-based group, which represents 100 boards across the country, updated its forecast in light of new economic conditions and now expects home prices to drop 0.6 per cent this year and 2.1 per cent next year. Three months ago the group was forecasting price increases for this year and next year.

"Canadian economic growth is being side-swiped by financial market turmoil, slowing world economic growth and weaker commodity prices," says Gregory Klump, chief economist with CREA. "The question of whether Canada will avoid a technical recession is moot, growth will be slow enough that it will feel like a recession."

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Peter Bhandari

Sales Representative

Royal Lepage Credit Valley Real Estate

http://www.PeterBhandari.com

email: pb@royallepage.ca

Direct: 4168272340

Office: 905-793-5000 x 478