Canada is seeing some of their worst housing problems coming about in the past year. They seemed to be relatively doing well when it came to foreclosures, but in recent months the numbers are drastically increasing. In Nanaimo, Canada they have seen foreclosures practically double. The question is what step should they take? They fear falling into the same trap that the United States fell into, but they have experienced much of the same thing with their banks.

Nanaimo is the second largest city in Vancouver. They have foreclosure hearings twice a month. The courts received 14 foreclosure applications last hearing and expect another 9 foreclosures for the next hearing. The amount of foreclosure increase from last year has been 50 percent while more than 42 percent filed bankruptcy from 2007 to 2008.

The loss of jobs and increasingly bad health has been the largest contributors on why people continue to file bankruptcy or foreclosure. Many homeowners received loans that they couldn’t afford originally due to their low income, but banks continued to lend money based on the idea that the equity of the home will continue to go up. This hasn’t been the case in the past two years.