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Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.

He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.

In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.

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• Canada Montreal 2002
  
• Canada Montreal 2002, 2
  
• Canada Montreal 2002, 3
  
• Canada Montreal 2002, 4
  
• Canada Montreal 2002, 5
  
• Canada Montreal 2007
  

The actual construction boom can be revealed by the frequently changed forecasts made by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). In May 2001 it predicted that the new housing starts in Quebec in 2001 will reach 26,200 units (26,500 in 2002) against 24,695 in 2000. In November the CMHC predicted a slowdown in the construction industry. Earlier this month although CMHC revised dramatically upward its forecasts for 2002 (32,700 units) and reported big increase of housing starts for 2001 (29,500).

The boom on the residential market partly has its roots in the affordability of the properties. The average household in Montreal owning a house spends 29.8 % on principal, interest, taxes and utilities combined*. In 2001 the house prices in the city has risen (5.2%) reflecting the stronger demand and rising consumer confidence and have reached $136,100**, a new record level. For the province of Quebec in general, the housing starts in 2001 were up 10.3% to 27,900 units, which is the best result since 1994, while resales of existing homes were up 14.6%, among the fastest in Canada. After strong performance of the local economy in January and the coming economic recovery in USA and the rest of Canada in 2002, we can expect for this year an increase both in housing starts and house prices in Montreal compared to 2001.

One of recent trends on the Montreal residential market (and not only) that is most curious is the bigger than average increase of housing starts for multi-family properties. Thus in 2001 the increase in the single detached houses was 4.0 percent while for the urban multiple starts the jump was of 39.4 percent. Let's try to explain why did happen this inequality of activity? The main reason for this is the immigration - 10,000 new households, which arrive each year on the market in Montreal. They can't have for the following years a credit to buy a house so they have to rent. Thus the market needs more residential properties for renting. After taking a credit most of them will prefer to live in mixed ethnic communities where they can share their cultural values and communicate more freely. This fact will push them to choose less expensive multi-family properties in the urban centers, which is reflected by the recent changes on the market.

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* - Source: RBC Financial Group's housing affordability index based on the expenditures for a detached bungalow, a typical target home for first-time buyers in Canada.

** - In Canadian dollars ($1 US = $1.6 CAD).

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