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The current slump in the United States real estate market hasn't made any full headway yet to its neighbor to the north. According to a lot of respected housing analysts, the resale housing market in Canada continued to reach new heights in June 2007, and has set quarterly and year-to-date records for sales, listings, average price and dollar volume.

According to recently-released statistics by the by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), national home sales activity in the first half of 2007 rose by 8.2 per cent year-over-year to 287,862 units.

Activity set consecutive records for in the first and second quarters, and remains on track to set a new annual record in 2007. Sales in the first half of this year ran ahead of levels for the same period last year in almost every Canadian province, including Quebec. New quarterly records for home sales activity were also seen in the provinces Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Québec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

Canadian Housing Experts See A Temporary Slowdown

A recent overview made by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, has noted that Montreal's booming real estate market has reached its peak. Analysts are forecasting a slowdown for this year, and cite as the following reasons the moderate employment growth from 2003 to 2005, anticipated marginal rises in mortgage rates, and increases in real estate for the past three years.

The CMHC however says that this will mean a better selection and better prices for home buyers, as housing starts were at their highest level since the 1980s and prices for single family homes have gone up by an average of 14 percent. The analysts expect that "the market can't get any hotter, and it will continue to be robust despite the slowdown".

The CMHC states that "we should see increases in supply, more choice, that's one thing," and "Probably transactions will go down a bit; however, prices should continue to increase, but not drastically." The CMHC further adds. The CMHC also notes that an upswing in immigration to Quebec and continuing demand for condominiums will keep the market viable and tough.

Reasons Why The Montreal Property Market Remains

Although there are signs that the Canadian housing markets are a bit affected by trends in the US, most housing observers see the overall property sector in the Canadian front to remain steadfast, and would be able to weather the torrents brought about by the US credit and property crunch. Among the many factors that make the Canadian market a robust one is that:

- Housing prices in Canada continue to rise, as the attractiveness of buying a property in the USA when the real estate market there is in a buyers market, allows for great deals.

- The Canadian dollar is at par, or almost, with the American dollar. The higher the dollar rises, the more attractive property becomes in the North.

- New home listings are up +11%, and active home Listings are also up by +13%. On the home sales front, the number of units sold is up +5%, sales volume is up by +12%, and average prices for single-family homes are also up +7%, ranging from $197,000 to $211,000.

- Canadian Vacation property today sells at a premium. In the US, there are a lot of states with warmer climates, so vacation properties are more readily available, as compared to Canada wherein most provinces experience the onset of cold, wintry months more often.

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