And Now For the Good News!
· The loonie's tumble serves up a 20% advantage for Americans buying Canadian investment and recreational real estate. · IMF predicts Canada will lead the G7 countries in growth at 1.2% in 2009.
· Canada has 18 domestic banks, the US has 8000.
· The Oct 9, 2008 Prestigious World Economic Forum declared Canada has the soundest banking system in the world out of 134 countries, US ranked 44th.
· BC's Employment rate is 95.4%, text book perfect!
· Residential building permits in BC for 2002 were $2.8 billion, and finished 2007 at $8.6 billion, a 271% increase, and 2002 was a great year!
· Average (single family and condo) home sale prices in 2002 were $250,000 and $453,000 in 2008, a 'mere' 81% increase. Even with a BCREA forecast of $413,000 in 2009, the appreciation would be just '65%' over 7 years.
· BC's inward migration plus births increased by 20,215 people.
· BC's population grew 1.7% during the twelve-month period ending July 1st, 2008, rising to 4,381,603. The Canadian population as a whole expanded only 1.2%.
· 2010 - The largest television audience in history! Three billion people will watch the Vancouver Whistler Winter Olympics in 2010.