'Plucky' housing market stabilizing, Royal LePage says

Canada's housing market has rebounded from an "awful winter" and could be poised to stabilize by the end of the year, one of the nation's largest real estate firms said Tuesday.

In its market survey forecast, Royal LePage revised its outlook for the national housing market, predicting a two-per-cent decline to an average house price of $297,500 by the end of the year. That's slightly higher than the $297,000 the company was forecasting in January.

The company is forecasting a one-per-cent drop in unit sales, to 430,000. That's also slightly higher than its January forecast of 416,000 sales nationwide.

Prices are expected to increase slightly in Eastern Canada butgreater than national average price declines are predicted for the western cities that saw the greatest price inflation earlier in the decade, including Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver.

"While seasonally weaker conditions are to be expected in the fall, theplucky Canadian real estate market is stabilizing and a healthy level of activity is forecast for the second half of 2009," Royal LePage president Phil Soper said.

Drops expected in Western cities

The firm predicts the average price in Vancouver will fall 5.7 per cent to $560,000, and prices in Calgary and Edmonton will likely fall 4.8 and 4.6 per cent, respectively.

Prices in Montreal are forecast to inch up 2.1 per cent to $263,500, and houses in Ottawa are forecast to increase 2.6 per cent to $298,000.

Royal LePage is forecasting a 1.5-per-cent decline, to an average price of $374,400 in Canada's largest real estate market, Toronto.

A 4.2-per-cent gain to $241,800 is forecast for the Halifax market.

Regina is forecast to maintain its booming real estate market, with Royal LePage predicting the average price of a home sold there to increase by 10.6 per cent to $254,000 this year.

"If general economic conditions continue to improve, as we expect they will, 2009 will be characterized as a period of moderate housing market correction after several years of above-average price growth," Soper said.