Re/Max put out their Housing Market Outlook 2012 report this past Tuesday, citing that Calgary is looking for at a higher demand for residential real estate in the coming year. In fact, the firm noted that Calgary will be the leader in the Canadian real estate market as far as MLS sales are concerned.

Calgary’s Mount Pleasant neighborhood is a bit of old fashioned urbanity in the midst of one of Alberta’s most populous cities. It is filled with bungalows dating back to the 1930s standing on large lots, near century old schools and churches and offering a bit of peaceful tranquility.

Calgary home prices have increased roughly 126 percent in the decade between 2000 and 2010. A report by Re/Max, released last Monday, noted that the housing market has seen a boost from the resurgence of the oil and gas industry, bringing in more people to the area, all needing a place to live. Renovation and new construction have also helped push up the home values.

The world’s economy, whether it is the currency market, commodities of equities, is in a financial dither. But within this insanity is one location where the economy, and subsequently its real estate market, is doing well.

Residential real estate in Calgary appears to be catching up with the already hot job market. This past October, home sales increased 14.6 percent over the same month in 2010, as noted by the Calgary Real Estate Board.

The Bank of Canada, noting a slightly weakened outlook for Canada’s economy, decided to leave its key lending rate sitting at one percent. That key rate has been one percent for over a year. At the same time the prime rate, used for computations on variable mortgages, will also stay at the three percent mark.

September real estate prices in Canada saw a 6.5 percent increase over the same month in 2010, but that increase is the smallest seen since January. The Canadian Real Estate Board, or CREA, just released its monthly report noting that the average price of a home, nationwide, for this September was $352,600.

Rumors have been tossed back and forth for a while now concerning the Calgary real estate market. After all, the global economic picture is less than rosy, including for those to our immediate south, the United States. But recent numbers have indicated that Canada’s real estate market is quite healthy.

The global economic situation is stirring up rumors of another recession. Despite this, those in the Calgary real estate market predict that this city is on the road to a recovery, both in sales volume and price. Comparing figures from this year to that of 2010, there is evidence that both are up.

Rumors have started about a potential bubble in Canada’s housing market. At least that is how Mike Brock, who is the editor of a pro-libertarian website called TheVolunteer.ca, sees things. Brock is of the belief that the Canadian real estate market is in no better shape than that of the United States. He refutes the arguments that the banking system in Canada is more secure and that its lending practices are tighter than south of the border.