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He says Vancouver real estate has reached peak insanity, and any number of factors could trigger a collapse.

Local real estate professionals predicted the U.S. investors are likely to lose their shirts betting against Vancouver property, which they described as a special market thriving on international demand.

But one Canadian housing analyst who advises U.S. clients, including Cohodes, said major investors are currently “building positions” against Canadian housing targets. They are forecasting a raise in historically low U.S. interest rates this fall will spill financial stress into Canada.

“All of the big global macro funds that were involved in betting against the U.S. in 2007 and 2008 and 2009, they’ve all studied Canadian housing for a few years,” said the Canadian analyst, who asked not to be named because of client confidentiality. “I know a number of them are shorting Canadian housing. It looks like an accident waiting to happen.”

This is although housing markets in Vancouver and Toronto have continued to rocket higher since international short-sellers started circling in 2013.

Short sellers use complex financial arrangements to make rapid profits when publicly traded stocks fall in value. In this case, they are betting against businesses connected to property and household debt. They are also betting against the Canadian dollar, because they believe it will decline significantly in a housing bust.