If you’re looking to buy a home in Canada, it’s understandable if you’re a bit jittery about the housing market.

Housing prices in Canada have climbed significantly since the year 2000, particularly in the largest cities: Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary, and Edmonton.

But are prices going to continue to rise? Level off? Or fall? And is Canada at risk for a housing market crash, similar to the nosedive in the U.S. real estate market?

Canadian analysts are generally bullish on the housing market, but here are two different views of the current Canadian real estate market situation:

Canada’s Housing Bubble: An Accident Waiting to Happen, a report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, argues that Canada may be at risk for a significant downturn in the housing market. As bad as the U.S. crash? Maybe not, but prices in Canada’s major cities could still fall.

The C.D. Howe Institute takes the opposite point of view in their report, Low Risk of US-Style Housing Bust in Canada. Their analysis suggests that the factors leading up to the U.S. housing market bust are not present in Canada, so the market should remain more stable.

Photo by woodleywonderworks (flickr)