A Buyer's Market is when there are more homes on the market than can be readily sold. The imbalance created by too much inventory has the result that properties languish on the market longer, thus prices decrease. Buyers have the advantage in possessing greater leverage as sellers are likely to be more desperate.

A Seller's Market is the opposite, when there are more buyers clamouring for homes than the inventory can support. The imbalance created by too little inventory has the result of homes staying on the market for shorter periods and selling for higher prices. Buyers have to compete with each other for homes, present higher offers, and make faster decisions.

A Balanced Market is as the name implies: a balance between the two extremes. Since inventory is roughly equal to demand, properties are sold within reasonable periods and prices stabilize. This type of market actually benefits both buyers and sellers as there is time to make proper judgments without the frenzy of the extreme conditions.

Although everyone wants their home to sell on the first open house date, the reality is that many home sellers found their listings languishing on MLS for uncomfortable amounts of time in the past year or so. Home values in some parts of the country took a fairly severe beating although as a whole, Canada far outperformed the United States which suffered a foreclosure-fuelled residential meltdown. Fortunately most indicators in Canada now point to a stabilization and a return to reasonable (albeit not booming) residential valuations.

Every day brings new reports that leading indicators are pointing to an impending residential property rebound in Canada, especially in the largest cities. Although the economic environment may not lead to the return of the heady seller's markets of recent memory.

The fundamentals of the financial aspects of home ownership in Canada have proven that they are far more solid than in many other countries. Canadians have more of an inherent belief in the value of long-term, sustainable residential ownership.

The fence sitters who were hoping to pick up properties at distressed, USA-level values have been left disappointed as demand for residential property is now rising once again, along with prices, and unfortunately, also mortgage interest rates.

Some areas of Canada already report negative residential inventory levels, so if you are interested in selling your property you will be glad to know that the doom and gloom crowd has been proven wrong and sunny days are going to be ahead for the Canadian residential real estate market once again.

Whether it is now, at the beginning of a restrained upward slope, or at any other time, the savvy and wise residential property seller takes the time and effort to become intimately familiar with the overall conditions of the national as well as their local real estate market in order to maximize the benefits of selling their home.