Tina Mak, Burnaby/BC real estate: Windsor-Essex Market Update

Windsor & Essex, ON

From RBC's Special Report on Housing Affordability across Canada published March 2008:

Mortgage Carrying Costs

House Prices

Resale Market

Ontario - slower economy, improved affordability

As the province teeters on the brink of recession through 2008, we expect the impacts of slower growth (largely stemming from slower job growth and wage gains) to restrain housing activity in 2008. The annual pace of income growth for the fourth quarter of 2007 came in at the slowest pace among the provinces. Housing starts are still expected to remain elevated but should decline from 2007 levels. Affordability conditions deteriorated across all home segments but the pace of deterioration slowed. We expect this trend to continue in 2008 as some affordability relief materializes through a lower mortgage rate environment, softer price gains, and an overall slower economic growth profile.