"From a strictly demographic perspective, that would place us around the 7th inning of the secular bull market in housing.”

"Recent data support the bank's expectation of a soft landing in the housing market."

"Our assessment at this point is that this looks to be a very orderly and moderate kind of cooling. "

“It is pretty clear that the housing sector is in a period of transition. Sales and starts are trending lower toward more sustainable levels.”

"A transition to lower, more sustainable levels of housing market activity is expected to subsequently temper the accumulation of household debt.”

“We believe that continued population growth, additional employment gains and modest mortgage rate increases will limit potential price declines.”

"With a general background of growing population and favourable affordability conditions, home sales are staying at very healthy levels."

"The quality of the insured mortgage portfolio remains strong and the rate of arrears of insured loans remains historically low"

The delinquency rate of federally insured mortgage loans “is the lowest in the 22 years that these data have been put together.”

"A very good definition of bubbles has been provided by economist Joseph Stiglitz: 'If the reason that the price is high today is only because investors believe that the selling price will be high tomorrow—when fundamental factors do not seem to justify such a price—then a bubble exists.' Reading this definition carefully, one ought to conclude that a rapid rise in house prices is not proof that a bubble exists."

"How does one tell when rapid growth in house prices is caused by fundamental factors of supply and demand, and when it is an unsustainable bubble? Stiglitz (1990) provided a general definition of asset bubbles in this journal: '[I]f the reason that the price is high today is only because investors believe that the selling price is high tomorrow—when fundamental factors do not seem to justify such a price—then a bubble exists.' … Accelerating house price growth and outsized price increases in certain markets are not intrinsically signs of a bubble."

“Conventional metrics for assessing pricing in the housing market such as price-to-rent ratios or price-to-income ratios generally fail to reflect accurately the state of housing costs. To the eyes of analysts employing such measures, housing markets can appear ‘exuberant,’ even when houses are in fact reasonably priced.”

“This report begins by looking at one of the key pieces of evidence that is brandished by those who believe a housing bubble exists: data on the ratio of house prices to rents. … The data used for the price-to-rent ratio…is definitely not suited for the purpose and has resulted in highly inaccurate estimates.

"House prices may be headed for a modest decline nationally and in some local markets, but fears of a housing bubble are exaggerated."

"Although a 'bubble' in home prices for the nation as a whole does not appear likely, there do appear to be, at a minimum, signs of froth in some local markets where home prices seem to have risen to unsustainable levels."

"Housing price bubbles presuppose an ability of market participants to trade properties as they speculate about the future. But upon sale of a house, homeowners must move and live elsewhere. This necessity, as well as large transaction costs, are significant impediments to speculative trading and an important restraint on the development of price bubbles."

"Speculation does not appear to be an important element in the housing boom. Housing bubbles are often characterized by the presence of fickle speculators who enter and exit with great speed to benefit from rapidly rising prices. But when we examine residential sales activity normalized by the population (our measure of transaction frequency), housing turnover appears flat. That suggests limited evidence of a speculative ramp-up in sales or flipping."