If you purchased over the past year and have no plans to move, the drop in property values should not have an effect on you. If however, you have overextended yourself and were planning on refinancing relying on a 20 to 30% increase in values, you may have a problem as the equity you thought you may have will not be there. Even if you have some equity and have to sell at a higher price than what you paid for the property, there are expenses that are going to decrease the amount of profit you will make from the sale (ie; real estate commission, legal fees, HST, moving fees and if you are buying another property, land transfer taxes). This"market correction" was coming when the government started tweaking the mortgage guidelines. Real estate agents knew this. Mortgage brokers knew this. Lenders knew this. Mortgage insurers knew this. The majority of those looking to buy did not however.
I told my friend to sell her property 4-5 months ago when the market was hotter and rent for a little while and she was thinking about it. She would have sold her property in a couple of weeks maximum based upon the activity at the time. Her rationale for not doing so was that if she sold and bought in the same market, even if she sold for less, she would also be buying for less. Today, she is swearing at herself.