854 - Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) released its housing forecasts for the country this week, in the midst of one of the hottest real estate markets Canada has ever seen. The federal government housing agency says that while rising interest rates should cool the market a little bit, there are still a couple of very good years ahead for Canadian real estate agents. The Canadian Real Estate Association says there were 40,665 units sold through the Multiple Listing Service in March, the second-highest level on record. "The national MLS residential average price rose by 10.4 per cent year-over-year to $223,483 in March, surpassing its previous record set one month earlier by 1.3 per cent," says the association. It credits full-time job growth, strong consumer confidence and the decline in five-year mortgage interest rates with maintaining the hot market. CMHC predicts that across the country, 438,400 resale homes will change hands this year, a slight drop from last year's record of 439,500. Its prediction for 2005 is 419,600 resales. CMHC chief economist Bob Dugan says, "Gradually rising mortgage rates next year and a better balance between listings and sales in the existing home market, will ease new home construction in 2005. Read this Nemmar Real Estate Training article at Real Estate - International