Canada ‘quietly thriving’ amid us gloom

Canada is prospering despite the looming spectre of the global credit crunch, according to Undiscovered Properties…

Whilst much talk in the media relates to the sub-prime mortgage market meltdown in the US, the global credit crunch, weakening currencies and of general uncertainty in many nation’s short term economic projections and property markets, one nation’s positive prospects are being overlooked…

Sometimes considered a poorer relation to the United States or overlooked as a leading economy of the world in favour of the UK and the US for example, Canada is actually the one nation that is producing positive results.

Whereas Canada’s economy has indeed often trailed the US economy, today it is leading the US - as is its Canadian dollar currency which, on the 24th of January 2008, gained the most since at least 1971 because of a surge in investor interest and confidence in commodity-exporting countries such as Canada, according to a Bloomberg report.

Lowest cost of living

In 2007, Canada was celebrating the fact that for the first time in the nation’s history, The Canadian Real Estate Association reported a billion dollars worth of home sales.  Also in 2007 when the US was intensely focused on the fact that there had been massive over exposure in the sub-prime mortgage market, Canada was quietly confident in its citizens’ ability to repay their mortgages, because less than 5% of the home based lending market in the nation is sub-prime. 

According to John Prior, the Principal of Undiscovered Properties: “There was a 3.3% increase in home sales in the second quarter of 2007 taking the year’s growth to almost 8% year-on-year. There was also an 11% year-on-year increase in average home prices in the 25 main cities with a national projection of 6.7% for 2007 and 6.1% in 2008”.

Canada is first among G8 countries when it comes to the quality of life it offers its citizens, it is first when it comes to having the lowest cost of living, and first in terms of enjoying the lowest unemployment rate – and what’s more, Canada’s property market is not only prospering, it’s offering increasing numbers of overseas buyers an affordable way to own a stunning and accessible second, retirement or permanent home abroad.