Halton Could be at Risk of a Housing Bubble
Published September 27, 2018 at 6:29 pm
It looks like things are getting exciting – or concerning, depending on your perspective and general anxiety level – for Halton’s real estate market.
It looks like things are getting exciting – or concerning, depending on your perspective and general anxiety level – for Halton’s real estate market.
Heavily tied to Toronto’s housing market due to proximity, Halton and the GTA could be in some hot water when it comes to housing prices.
Although government-initiated policies have cooled the market and helped bring it back into balance, Toronto – and in turn Halton and other regions in the GTA – is considered at risk of a housing bubble.
According to a new report from UBS, bubble risk is high for Toronto, alongside Hong Kong, Munich, Vancouver, London and Amsterdam.
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For anyone wondering what a bubble is and could mean, it’s essentially when incomes are not keeping up with housing prices, making housing incredibly unaffordable for residents in the area.
Out of all of the cities surveyed, Toronto is the third at risk of a housing bubble.
According to the report, over the course of the last five years, house prices in major cities have increased by 35 per cent on average, but incomes are not increasing at nearly the same rate.
Toronto trails slightly behind Hong Kong and Munich in its risk of a housing bubble.
While Toronto’s bubble risk has declined in the past year – it was number one in UBS’s last report – the major urban centre and the GTA may still be concerned.
According to UBS, “rising rates, stricter market regulations or an economic downturn could turn the lights out on the party given the high valuations and strained affordability” in Toronto.
“Higher mortgage costs and tighter lending standards should limit the upside for the time being,” reads the report.
“But a short-term weakening of the Canadian dollar may again attract foreign buyers.”
So, while we might not need to fret just yet, it might be helpful to note that our real estate market could change in the near future.
Current MLS stats indicate an average house price of $785,487 in Burlington, $1,023,830 in Oakville, and $714,833 in Milton, according to Zolo.ca.
Can you afford a home in Halton?
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