With the spectrum of a recession in the background, the leaders and the economists of the Mouvement Desjardins closely supervise the real-estate market. That is what Monique Leroux indicated, at a conference before the Montreal Council of Foreign Relations (MCFR).
“Even if we cannot clearly speak about a real-estate bubble, the Canadian situation raises concerns”, she explains, specifying that Quebec is in a less worrisome position.
The real-estate market in Canada is for the moment very advantageous for salesmen, which explains the rise of prices in the resale market. The problem is that a recession could quickly reverse the situation.
“If the economy declines for a sufficiently long time, more and more consumers would be unable to refund their mortgage loans”, explains Paul Cardinal, director of the market-analysis service of the Quebec Federation of Real Estate Boards (FCIQ).
The Quebec real-estate market should however weather the storm without too much of a hassle. “The interest rates are extremely low and houses for sale are still rare. The consumers are not taken at their throat either,” thinks Mr. Cardinal.
Nearly 39.052 people faced personal bankruptcy in the Province in 2011. They were 42.019 the previous year. Nearly 0,33% of the mortgage loans were in failing, in July 2011, against 0,34% a year earlier. In Ontario, this figure is located at 0,31% and in British-Colombia, at 0,47%.