End-of-summer real estate special

While home prices south of the border have yet to recover from the recession, in Canada, the economic downturn has barely made a dent in them. In fact, sales were so robust through the early months of the summer that the Canadian Real Estate Association now predicts house prices will be up 1.5 per cent this year and sales will reach 2008 levels—a sharp departure from the 14.7 per cent drop in the number of sales CREA had originally anticipated. “The difference in the resale housing market now, compared to the beginning of the year, is night and day,” says CREA President Dale Ripplinger, “and nowhere is this more evident than in the West.” Average prices are now expected to rise in all provinces except Alberta, where they are expected to fall by 4.4 per cent, and British Columbia, where they are expect to remain stable.

Click below to see what’s available in some of Canada’s largest markets.