A report from Macleans in Canada. "Kirk Marsh first noticed the mood start to turn in Vancouver’s housing market a year ago. As a real estate investor who buys homes and condos then fixes them up for resale, Marsh has an excellent vantage point on the market. 'Today, everything has stalled,' he says. 'There’s just nobody showing up at the open houses now.'"

"He’s also keenly aware of the slowdown because he’s trying to unload a renovated two-bedroom condo in New Westminster, just east of Vancouver. The unit, with an asking price of $569,000, had been sitting on the market for two months as of mid-December, with almost no interest."

From Global News. "Housing numbers released this week have confirmed the predictions of some economists and industry experts: Metro Vancouver’s once red-hot market has cooled down substantially — with total sales plummeting to the lowest rate in the region in 18 years."

"'People used to say, ‘I’d better jump in the market — it’s going to be higher next month,' said Michael Campbell, a business analyst. 'Now they say, ‘I’d better sit back.'"

From The Province. "Condominium owners in Metro Vancouver are opening up 2019 property-assessment notices showing increases in value from a year ago. But much has changed in property markets since B.C. Assessment set those values on July 1."

"Across most of Metro Vancouver, condo prices are down 6.4 per cent since July to a benchmark prices $664,100, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver. And since July, in Metro Vancouver submarkets, benchmark condo prices have declined as much as 14 per cent in Squamish (now $455,900), 10.3 per cent in Port Moody (now $627,300), 6.3 per cent on Vancouver’s east side (now $538,000) and seven per cent on Vancouver’s west side (now $783,700), according to real-estate-board figures."

The Clinton News Record. "Housing markets across Canada contribute billions of dollars annually to the country’s economy, making up almost eight percent of gross domestic product (GDP) between 2010 and 2017. But those halcyon days ended in 2018, say CIBC economists Benjamin Tal and Royce Mendes."

"'It was a good run while it lasted, but the sun has officially set on the days of heady housing market growth fueling Canada’s national economy,' write Tal and Mendes. 'The combination of restrictive macroprudential policy measures and higher interest rates has taken a major bite out of housing activity.'"

The St. Albert Gazette. "Along with the weather, the housing market in St. Albert has frosted over. In December, sales for both single family houses and condos plummeted by 41.6 per cent compared to that same month in 2017, the latest Realtors Association of Edmonton numbers show."

"'We’re looking at decade-high numbers now,' Michael Brodrick, the chair of the association, said of the amount of homes saturating the market. When it comes to whether the metro region has over-built housing complexes, Brodrick said the answer isn’t so simple."

"'It’s easy to say ‘sure, we’ve overbuilt,’ but you also have to remember that you don’t get a large condo tower approved today and you break ground tomorrow. These projects were submitted a long time ago, they were approved a long time ago,' he said."

From CTV Edmonton. "Edmonton’s real estate market is looking forward to a new start this year, after 2018 brought with it a decrease in prices and listings sitting on the market longer. 'The real estate market has been difficult,' said Michael Brodrick, Chair of the Realtors Association of Edmonton. 'It’s been difficult for realtors, it’s been difficult for buyers and sellers.'"

"Brodrick says a high amount of inventory for condos across the province weighed down on prices. 'Condo prices were really affected simply by the level of inventory we had. There was a tremendously high level of condos on the market that drove prices down further than the average overall residential price.'"

The Canadian Press. "Concerns about fresh job losses, volatile oil prices and lower capital spending are weighing on Calgary’s real-estate market and economists predict another slow year for home sales and falling prices in the city."

"'For many people out there, I feel for them, said Ann-Marie Lurie, Calgary Real Estate Board’s chief economist. 'We’re in a situation where sales have been weak, we have too much inventory in our market and prices have been falling.'"

From RD News Now. "'It’s been a pretty tough past 12 months.' That from Richard Pochylko, the newly-elected President of the Central Alberta Realtors Association (CARA) in describing 2018 for the local real estate industry."

"'There were 1,331 properties sold inside the city of Red Deer in the last 12 months but 3,006 were listed for sale, so there was a lot of people that wanted to sell that were unable to do so, he explains. In terms of prices, Pochylko says the average sale value for a detached home in Red Deer last year was $370,196, down about three per cent from 2017."

"'It’s down about, probably a good 10-11 per cent from say 2015,' adds Pochylko. 'One of the things that you run into now because people generally don’t buy a house and sell it in six months, they’re selling it three to five years later. So now we’re in that three to five year bracket from 2015 and you’ll sit down with people and their equity position has been eroded because the market’s been bad basically 2016, 2017 and 2018.'"