Joel DyckReal Broker SK Ltd.
Saskatoon · From the topic map

I heard foreclosures are rising. Should we worry about another 2008?

Saskatoon is not showing the conditions that produced 2008, largely a US subprime lending crisis; Canadian mortgages have carried a federally mandated stress test for years, and the Saskatchewan REALTORS Association's numbers put months of supply at 1.63, with sales running 6.6 percent above the 10 year average, describing a tight market, not a distressed one.

The underwriting difference is structural, not just a matter of confidence. CMHC's guideline of roughly 39 percent of gross income on housing costs and 44 percent on total debt screens borrowers before a mortgage is even approved, which is a buffer that did not exist in the same form in the US market that triggered 2008.

Individual foreclosures still happen for individual reasons, job loss, illness, divorce, and Saskatchewan foreclosures move through Court of King's Bench as a formal court process rather than a quick lender action, which on its own slows any wave from forming even if hardship cases rise.

A tight, undersupplied market like Saskatoon's current one is a poor match for a 2008 style crash. Get your hand-reviewed valuation from Joel Dyck.

Get your hand-reviewed valuation from Joel Dyck.

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