Canadian housing starts rebounded in August, however, experts cautioned to look too much into this as it follows a weak July, the CMHC reported last week.

Analysts had expected 195,000 starts across the country and there was actually a 13% increase to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 211,000 units from 186,500 units in July. The majority of the gain was in Ontario, which saw a 81% hike.

Interesting facts:

The Canadian housing market saw a 2nd monthly decline in July according to Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) which was reported in the Financial Post. House prices were holding steady, especially relative to the US, but are now sinking lower. Some US centres saw house prices decline by as much as 30% last year.

Some key facts from the article include:

Canada

Alberta

Vancouver

Toronto

The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) has released Q1 2008 stats. The results thus far seem to indicate that the housing market in Canada is definitely starting to slowdown, however, it is performing much better than in many other countries.

Canadian House Prices:

Canadian Housing Sales

Foreign Markets
It looks like the Canadian real estate market has been fairly resilient when compared to other markets around the world, as reported in the Edmonton Journal:

The MLS ® Major Market Residential Summary:
First Half 2008

According to a report by Canoe the Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has said their are no housing worries in Canada and the government isn’t worried about a subprime housing bubble as we’re seeing in the US.

At an event in Calgary he said:

He also said that despite the government tightening rules on mortgage lending with their announcement last week to stop insuring 40 year and 0% deposit mortgages, the general health of Canadian banks are very good.