Bank of Canada concerned home buyer expectations may be driving up prices

The Bank of Canada is concerned that the acceleration in housing prices in Toronto and Vancouver may be partly due to purchases based solely on the expectation that prices will keep going up, Deputy Governor Lawrence Schembri said on Thursday.

Schembri said that Canadians moving away from resource-producing regions to the major cities of Toronto and Vancouver in order to find jobs has created a huge demand for housing in those cities, driving prices up as supply remains relatively limited.

But he expressed concern that such fundamentals are not the only reason for rising prices.

“The concern that we have at the Bank of Canada is these price increases may reflect in part the fact that certain people (are) buying housing on (speculation), expecting this price increase to continue,” said Schembri.

“People should not be buying housing based on the expectation these prices are going to continue” as the demand from the influx of workers into those regions will not continue at the same rate, Schembri said.

He was speaking during a question-and-answer session following a presentation on the outlook for the economy.

-Reuters (ca.finance.yahoo.com)

~Wakenya Canada