Alberta Real Estate Market Suffers From Confusion
For the past 2 years the economy in Alberta has been in overdrive.nbsp; House prices have nearly doubled wages have increased at an alarming rate and the vacancy rate is virtually zero.nbsp; A large part of this boom in the economy has been related to decentralization of the Canadian economy the growth in commodity markets and specifiaclly the increase in the oil industry.
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Twelve months ago things started to reverse dramatically.nbsp; The real estate market seemed to hit a wall.nbsp; Inventory of unsold homes started to climb and the number of buyers started to decline.nbsp; As recently as a few months ago the Canadian Dollar had exceeded the value of the US Dollar and reached a high of about 1.11 something not seen for a generation or more.
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Now as the shortened days of winter come upon us the situation in Alberta has started to chill.nbsp; The Canadian Dollar has fallen off a cliff and sits below 80 cents US.nbsp; Home prices have tumbled builders have disappeared and the job market is tightening up.nbsp; Many small businesses could not keep pace with the boom and have started to fall by the wayside in financial distress.nbsp; This situation isn’t strictly confined to home builders or those in the trades but many other industries as well are feeling the crunch.nbsp; Consumer spending is slowing at an alarming rate and many restaurants and entertainment facilities sit nearly vacant during peak business hours.
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Doom and gloom is everywhere on the US dominated news media.nbsp; The boom appears to have ended as quickly as it began.nbsp; Albertans can rest safer then most though.nbsp; Our national banking and financial system remains strong.nbsp; Our commodity based economy is slowing but will never go without demand.nbsp; Our housing market is coming back to reality and prices settling back to where they started 2 years ago.nbsp; For those who were able to weather the storm life will continue on.nbsp; Some were able to strike gold in the opportunities of the boom and yet even more will take advantage and benefit of the bust.
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About the writer: Robert W. May is the broker and owner of Rainbow Realty a full service independent MLS brokerage in Alberta Canada. He is also a mortgage specialist with Canada First Mortgage of Calgary. He can be contacted directly through the website LethbridgeLoans.com
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