North America

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Avoid the US, Canada still arguably attractive

The US
Should you take advantage of the downturn in the US to rush in? No, no, no – not in our opinion. Classic real estate busts (and that is that this is) take 2-3 years to work themselves through. And we’re not at the end of the bust yet, not at all. Once the devil have got into the financial system, it’s hard to exorcise them.

Canada
The housing market is slowing so it would be counter-intuitive to jump in. However, there are still good yields to be had in Montreal, at 6% to 7.4% gross. Transaction costs are low, so that’s a plus. But rental income tax is really quite high. Hard to get super-excited about it.