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Like many Albertans, I recently vacationed in B.C.’s beautiful Okanagan, which provided a great reprieve from not only the terrible summer weather we’ve had but also all of the negativity overhanging our province. In particular, I noticed quite the dichotomy between the two provinces, as one can really feel the tremendous boom and positive energy in B.C. — driven primarily from their housing market — compared to the current situation here.

There is an important lesson in this as one really shouldn’t underestimate the power of a strong real estate market and its impact on consumer confidence and overall economic activity. Simply look at what happened in the U.S. in the years leading up to the 2008 financial crisis. Now it’s Canada’s turn, with a housing boom primarily in Toronto and Vancouver accounting for nearly one third of our country’s GDP growth.

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As Albertans return from vacation and their kids head back to school, the reality of our situation is finally starting to sink in. On the surface our housing market seems to be hanging in despite all of the layoffs with only moderate drops in median home sale prices. That said, being a current home seller and buyer myself, this median price change appears meaningless: According to my observations, a large part of the market, especially those houses priced above the average, appears to have gone no-bid with very few buyers and a lot of sellers.