High prices propel sales above 50% of total deals: A single-family detached house has long been the ideal dream for Canadian homebuyers.

However, in case you couldn't already tell by all the construction cranes dotting Toronto's crowded skyline, 2007 has become the year of the condo.

New condominium sales in the Toronto area officially passed the 50-percent mark for the first time, outselling new low-rise homes, according to numbers released by the Building Industry and Land Development Association.

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With 8,762 houses sold in the Greater Toronto Area, April’s resale housing activity was down seven per cent from the record 9,452 transactions from the same timeframe a year ago, Toronto Real Estate Board President Maureen O’Neill announced today.

“The market is showing signs for a healthy 2008 compared to the diminished activity we saw in the first quarter of the year,” said Ms. O’Neill. “We continue to experience a supply and demand situation and to-date, it remains a sellers market."

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The Greater Toronto Area resale housing market saw 3,955 homes change hands in the first half of April, down five per cent from the same time period last year, Toronto Real Estate Board President Maureen O’Neill announced today.

“The first half of April brought sales activity within five per cent of mid-April 2007,” said Ms. O’Neill.

In the City of Toronto sales are down 11 per cent compared to a year ago, with 1,514 transactions taking place. Inthe 905 suburbs, sales are down just over one per cent to 2,441 for mid-month April 2008 from 2,477 sales midmonth April 2007.

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Housing in Canada deteriorated in 2007 to its least affordable level since 1990, the year the real estate bubble burst. And cracks may be showing in the seemingly bulletproof housing market, with once hot Alberta bucking the trend with a rapid cooling of housing prices, says a report released yesterday by RBC Economics.

"Alberta's housing market is on watch for further negative developments," RBC economist Derek Hold said in his quarterly report.  "This also marks the start of what we fear could become a trend."

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There's been a lot of media attention about the real estate market in the U.S. lately. So much so, in fact, that some of our customers are either getting confused about the recent reporting, or wondering if some of the problems south of the border could possibly affect us here. First and foremost, let us clarify that the influences you're seeing at play in the United States when you turn on your TV every night are definitely not at work here. In fact, industry sources and economic forecasters say that all the positive economic drivers are in place for a continued strong market, so we're looking in pretty good shape.

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