Canada's Housing Bubble

Jul 24, 2010 Shane Bigham NEWS1130

Experts say buyers can enjoy significant discounts

OKANAGAN  - The real estate boom in the Okanagan has gone bust. Developers in the area have been slashing prices on new housing developments and prices are now sharply lower from just a couple of years ago.

Advertised prices on many new developments are down between 20 and 30 per cent, six-figure savings in some cases. And if you really hunt, developer Matthew Hay says deeper discounts can be had.

He says too much inventory was built up before the recession hit, and the newly imposed Harmonized Sales Tax is not helping the market either. "So now not only is there a surplus of product on the market, but you've got a whole buyer demographic that is nervous, cautious, sitting on their wallets, waiting to see how things shake out."

Some of the developers are offering incentives on top of the discounts like covering the HST, or the GST. Hay says some developers are desperate to sell and that is putting downward pressure on the Okanagan market.