Some good articles of interesting information the last few days (and good discussion and exchanges in this thread - I like it!
) I hadn't caught this one from Macleans until now:
http://www2.macleans.ca/2012/05/01/h...r-gdp-numbers/
Does this mean housing is becoming a larger and larger share of our economy? Indeed, it does. Take a look at this graph we put together using StatsCan data, which shows how construction and real estate-related financial services have been growing over the past decade as a share of GDP:
Between 1997 and 2003 the housing market’s share of the economy was 17 per cent or less. Today, it accounts for nearly 19 per cent. Now, a two per cent rise isn’t peanuts when you’re talking about a trillion-dollar economy.
I'm not sure that a comparison with Spain holds any water but their construction bubble topped out at 15% of GDP before it popped. For what it's worth I guess - perhaps very little.