Canada’s mainstream media continue reporting inherent dangers of Canada’s overheated real estate markets, spurred on by combination of low interest rates and speculative purchases by Asian buyers in major centers such as Toronto and Vancouver.  At the same time, daily news in these parts carry reports of Canadians shifting focus to perceived value and risk in real estate investment south of the border.  Some commentators are sounding alarm bells:

“Do you think the Canadians are coming down here because they really like Arizona?  Some of them do, but they’re not buying thousands of houses because they feel sorry for us or want to support our market.  They’re doing it to make money.  There’s nothing wrong with that – I’m a capitalist – but you have to own up to the risks that you’re taking.  If you own a second home, you’re speculating.  It’s a lot cheaper to come to Arizona and stay in a resort or a short-term rental than to own the property and come down here one or two months out of the year.  It will be interesting to see if we start to hear sob stories about poor Canadians saying they were cheated by the banks and lost their investment properties and their Canadian properties.”
– Ben Jones, Globe and Mail 4/12