Newsweek, February 9 2007: Guess which country, alone in the industrialized world, has not faced a single bank failure, calls for bailouts or government intervention in the financial or mortgage sectors. Yup, it’s Canada. Canadian banks are well capitalized and poised to take advantage of opportunities that American and European banks cannot seize.
Consider the facts: In 2008, the World Economic Forum ranked Canada’s banking system the healthiest in the world. Canadian banks are typically leveraged at 18 to 1 – compared with US banks at 26 to 1 and European banks at a frightening 61 to 1. Mortgage interest is not tax deductible in Canada as it is in the US, so Canadians do not have the same incentive to buy to their maximum. And yet the percentage of the population in the US and Canada who are homeowners is the same – 68%.
Read the full article by Fareed Zakaria
Published Feb 7, 2009 | From the magazine issue dated Feb 16, 2009
I don’t know about you, but this makes me me hopeful for the future and proud to be Canadian!
Contributed by Kathy Schmidt, Broker Owner of Schmidt Realty Group Inc
