Saskatoon to lead nation for economic growth in 2007: Conference Board
The Conference Board of Canada announced today that Saskatoon will replace Calgary as Canada’s economic growth leader in 2007. Calgary has topped the list of Canadian municipalities for the last two years.
The Conference Board’s website provides this single highlight from their “Saskatoon: Metropolitan Outlook” report which sells for $725. “This year’s real GDP growth of 4.7 per cent in Saskatoon will prompt employment to advance by 4.8 per cent.”
CBC’s web coverage can be found here
Of course, this is excellent news for a market which has seen housing price increases in excess of 50% in almost all housing categories. For months, many have been asking “when will the rest of the economy catch up?” Perhaps your raise is on its way.
A tip of the hat to “Jedi” for the heads up on this story.
Read also: RBC predicts solid economic growth for Saskatchewan in 2007 & 2008
I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions. All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.
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Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate
There's 11 Comments So Far
April 9th, 2009 at 9:10 am
This does nothing to shed light on the situation for people who aren’t equity rich.
It’s disgusting how the media and government conspire (willingly or not) to act like incomes that once afforded homes are now barely enough to make ends meet.
I almost feel like we’re being ignored. You want to talk sense of entitlement, look at the rich who feel like they are owed something because they endured hardship, so they are now robbing young people with extortionate house prices.
April 9th, 2009 at 9:10 am
**correction to the above:
..to NOT act like…
lol!
April 9th, 2009 at 9:10 am
Alex,
You can’t even enjoy the good news, can you?
April 9th, 2009 at 9:10 am
It paints an all too rosy picture.
April 9th, 2009 at 9:11 am
I’m sorry Norm I don’t believe it either. I think this is driven a lot by house sales, since that would affect the amount of income going around. I would like to see what happens 6 – 12 months down the road before I say we are leading the country. When you’ve had houses double in SK, how could we not lead the economic growth? It doesn’t talk about what companies are moving here to help the province or anything, so I don’t see the proof yet either. What about all the people that can’t afford housing or are kicked out on the street due to lack of rental units, I don’t think they agree with this study either.
April 9th, 2009 at 9:14 am
Sunny,
I’m certainly not an economist but I think “the amount of income going around” directly impacts the economy one way or the other. Even if it is largely related to real estate we have to remember that all of those involved buy stuff and there are huge spin offs which contribute to a strong economy. Sellers spend and invest their gains, buyers do improvements to their homes, carpenters buy tools and trucks, and on and on it goes.
I was also interested to learn that there are 14,000 more jobs in Saskatchewan (predicted to end of 2007) than there were at the end of 2004, but I would imagine that this won’t be seen as a positive sign of economic growth for those who feel the situation is hopeless in Saskatchewan.
Poverty is another issue all together which is outside of the scope of an economic forecast. Sadly, life will be a challenge for the poor even in a booming economy.
April 9th, 2009 at 9:14 am
Economic growth leader? LOL. House price growth leader? HAHA
April 9th, 2009 at 9:15 am
How much is the contribution of real estate to the real GDP growth of 4.7% in SASKATOON? 30%? 50%? or 90%? LOL
April 9th, 2009 at 9:15 am
Meyou,
You raise a good point though I’m certain that “real estate” would also count in all of the other markets as well. It’s part of the big picture.
I believe that the Sask economy is around 9 billion dollars and as I pointed out in a previous post real estate in Saskatoon alone has produced around 1 billion in sales. I expect that the entire province is probably closer to 2 billion.
April 9th, 2009 at 9:15 am
I think a couple of things are being overlooked.
1. For all of the people who already owned a home (by purchasing within the last 5 yrs when the rate was extremely low and credit readily available) what a wonderful windfall the opportunity of having your home double in value is.
2. The homes in Saskatoon were undervalued for the current marketplace. When entry level incomes equate to 25 – 30% of a value of a single family home. Your are undervalued.
There was a point in time when owning a home was something that had to be saved for and earned, not just expected.
3. The increase in value for uranium, potash, and oilsands is an incredible gain for Saskatchewan. An influx of high paying jobs and opportunities have & will follow.
4. Those who got caught in between are in a bad position, u didn’t buy when it was cheap, u didn’t buy when it was rising, and ur still renting and complaining u can’t buy.
April 9th, 2009 at 9:16 am
rezonate,
All excellent points! There are plenty of reasons to feel good about what’s been happening in Saskatchewan.
Thanks for bringing your persepctive.