It is still crazy here. Wife and I looked at a house on rural property last week.
By GOD, Jetstream, do not buy a property in Canada now, are you guys being serious??? Don't you see what is coming your way - just look south your border!
Just rent for now. I know it hurts, to think about how much money you throw away every month on rent. I feel the same. But it might help to do some maths/simulations, what happens when (inevitable) crash comes:
Here's the thing, I'll give you my example. Here in Ireland, if I went ahead and bought a house here around the time when I immigrated (around the top of the boom, which is certainly a place where Canada IS today), I'd possibly have to paid TWICE as much, comparing to today's prices. Yes, prices for some properties had been down sometimes 50%, which means I'd have to pay double the money to buy the same house just a few years ago! And from what I know, it is the asking prices - how much sellers are actually getting for houses being actually SOLD, is another matter. And this is with all the government "bailouts", bank propping, and infamous NAMA agency (National Assets Management Agency - created to buy toxic assets from banks/big developers, thus preventing the housing prices from a complete crash), ALL the mainstream media trumpeting all the time, every few months, that "housing prices have finally bottomed, houses are greatly undervalued now, NOW is a GREAT time & opportunity to buy a house, if you can afford it" - you name it - which is really an extraordinary intervention! All that doesn't help, what goes up, must go down eventually. Throw in demographics on your side of the pond - Baby Boomers starting to retire any year now, supplying their houses to the market, downsizing or otherwise moving on. Who will buy all these houses? How will it affect supply/demand in the housing market? (I am assuming that Canada faces very similar demographics to US, but I might be wrong in this particular regard. But demographics is only proverbial last nail in the coffin, much important is the housing bubble being just about to burst in Canada)
Now, how that rent, that I've spent during the last few years, compares to this HUGE price reduction, that Irish market is experiencing (and I bet you, it is not an end of the slide - markets tend to overshot down, after crashing, the more, the bigger the bubble was - and it was huge here, and it is even bigger in places like Canada, Australia, New Zealand TODAY - from my perspective, doing my homework & comparing these countries to others, busted already)? That rent spent is a small change, relatively speaking, and it is all MONEY WELL SAVED. Additionally, my rent is DECREASING every year.
I'll see how things are unveiling, before making my final move (I don't know if I'll stay here in Ireland for good), but for now - it finally is a buyer's/tenant market here, not seller's/landlord's, thanks God.
Be patient, be smart, don't get caught on the wrong side of the boom/bust cycle. Buying a property is a big commitment, only make it using solid reasoning, and not anything else. Certainly not because "it is still crazy here", it should light up all of your alarm bells & controls!
just my humble $.02, $.02, $.02 & $.02