In an effort to prop up the real estate market in 2008 (when affordability nosedived), the Harper government directed the CMHC to approve as many high-risk borrowers as possible and to keep credit flowing. The approval rate for these risky loans went from 33% in 2007 to 42% in 2008. By mid-2007, average equity as a share of home value was down to 6% -- from 48% in 2003. At the peak of the U.S. housing bubble, just before it burst, house prices were five times the average American income; in Canada today that ratio is 7.4:1, almost 50% higher.

This is fairly interesting to me, and I wonder how accurate it is. I've had a couple of decent looking opportunities drop on my plate recently to purchase a couple of condos, but my gut keeps telling me to be patient, that I need to wait for a substantial and not-yet-here correction in real estate prices.