Why would you do this? There's been nothing but talk about a housing bubble, especially in Vancouver and Toronto. This seems like the worst possible time to buy property there, especially if you take any debt to do it.

I doubt it's very much, and they've got major downside risk.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/incoming/article26200269.ece/...

I'm estimating since the chart isn't precise. It looks like, from 2013, the average change is:

single family home: 1.1 million --> 1.4 million = 8.37% return

condo: Hard to tell. Not as large.

Am I reading that chart right? Of course, that doesn't tell you the increase in price in existing homes. And that return rate comes with interest, fees, property taxes, maintenance and the massive downside risk if we're in a bubble.

This is a very rough calculation on my part, so let me know if it's wrong.

That said, as to the original question, which was whether someone should invest now: With the massive economic slowdown + the large drop in Calgary real estate prices, this seems like a particularly bad time to invest, even if it might theoretically have been better a few years ago.