A client of mine forwarded this very cool interactive flash-based chart from The Economist. It shows the house price index, actual house price movement for several countries over the past 20 years.  (The above is just an image of the actual chart. I have embedded the actual flash chart in my blog. Click ‘Continue Reading’ to try it.)

It is interesting to see how Canada’s house prices stack up against other countries over the last 20 years. The same old story holds true: since 1990, Canadian real estate has been very boring. Appreciating at very modest but steady rates compare to the huge ups and downs of several other countries. Our downturn we experienced last year was nothing compared to other countries. This is disappointing news to the doomsayers who fervently believe we are constantly heading for a massive market ‘correction’.