The Financial Post reports that residential property sales fell 10 percent in August from a year ago, which means the Canadian city’s housing market may enter a correction phase.
Low mortgage rates and low supply of land have pushed home prices past $1 million. Last month, British Columbia set a 15 percent tax on foreign home buyers.
Longer-term forces like low interest rates will help Canada avoid a crash, and policy makers must guard against cracking down on regional markets in a way that adds to the risks, said Emanuella Enenajor, senior Canada and U.S. economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in New York.