​Are the house prices sustainable?

With little or no cooling of house prices in our major markets economists continue to question whether the current situation is sustainable.

With little or no cooling of house prices in our major markets economists continue to question whether the current situation is sustainable. The main issue is that incomes are not keeping pace with price rises so although interest rates are still low we will reach a point at which buyers can’t get mortgages because of their income or are put off taking on such a big loan as we get closer to rate rises. Looking at a summary of average selling prices across Canada, from local real estate board data, highlights the heat that continues in the market (percentage figures are annual increases to August 2014):

Toronto - $546,303 for all home types; up 8.9 per cent.
Calgary - $545,238 for single-family homes; up 5.42 per cent
                $332,006 for a condo; up 11.48 per cent
Vancouver - $631,600 for all homes (benchmark figure); up 5 per cent
Ottawa - $360,214 for all homes; up 3.4 per cent.
               $263,996 for condos; up 2.7 per cent.