Home prices

More than twice as many Canadians as last year say they expect home prices across the country to fall, according to a new survey by a national mortgage industry association.

The Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals (CAAMP) says that 35 per cent of Canadians now believe that home prices will drop, up from 17 per cent last fall.

Jim Murphy, the president and CEO of CAAMP, believes the survey results suggest recent news coverage of the economic crisis may be having an impact on attitudes about the housing sector.

"I think (the numbers are) reflective of the attitudes about the economy overall -- and the media reports that are out there and the statistics that are provided," he said from Toronto.

Here is what the CAAMP survey found:

• Twice as many people as last fall, or 35 per cent, now believe home prices will drop.
• The number of people who thought prices would go up fell from 40 per cent to 20 per cent.
• Residents in the West are most negative. In B.C., 48 per cent said they expect prices to fall.
• Thirty-eight per cent of Canadians believe now is a good time to purchase a house and 32 per cent say it's a bad time. These figures are similar to last year's results.

The survey also found that almost 85 per cent of home owners are satisfied with their mortgages.

"In historical terms mortgage rates are still very low, so when people are asked why they're happy about their mortgages, the number one reason is the rate," Murphy said.

CAAMP's chief economist Will Dunning said the mortgage crisis in the U.S. doesn't appear to have hurt consumer confidence in Canada's housing sector.

"Canada is a financially conservative country where consumers are able to meet the terms of their mortgages and buying decisions are based on affordability," said Dunning in a press release.

"This contributes to a solid real estate market that will not experience the same drop off we see south of the border."

The information for the CAAMP report was gathered by Maritz from an online survey of over 2,000 Canadians in mid-October. Last week, the Canadian Real Estate Associate reported that the multiple listing service (MLS) dropped 14 per cent in October. It was the biggest month-to-month decrease since mid-1994.