The Montreal Formula One race was certainly not shy of action. With Hamilton crashing into Kimi Raikkonen in the pit lane, the road was free for BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica, who had sworn to to win the race after having a massive crash in Montreal last year.

His persistence and focus has paid off with Kubica not only scoring first place with a 24 second lead over the second placed driver, but the Sauber team managing a double win which was their first this season.

The Lewis and Raikkonen incident put both drivers out of the race and incurred a 10 places drop penalty for Lewis in the next race in France for running into Raikkonen who was stopped at the pit lane with a red light. Meanwhile BMW Sauber is rejoicing at their double win which puts them only 3 championship points behind Ferrari.

1. Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber)
2. Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber)
3. David Coulthard (Red Bull-Renault)

With France coming up on June 22nd, things might heat up further for the teams.

Is Montreal’s real estate market slowing down?

On the property front, Montreal’s real estate is coming to a smooth landing if we are to believe a report that was published in the Montreal Gazette last month.

While 2007 was recorded as a record year, the Canadian Mortgage Housing Corp. reported that fewer resale transactions will take place in the greater Montreal region for 2008 and 2009.

Despite this slowdown, the market is still said to be good for sellers as property prices will continue to rise. The one market which is expected to stay stable is the condominiums.

CMHC market analyst Astrid Joseph said “the market is still dynamic.”

Last year a total of 55,776 real estate transactions took place in the great Montreal region. With a good track record of strong property values (they have doubled since 1998), the property boom has been related to a strong job market, consumer confidence in the economy and low interest rates.

Overall, Canada’s housing market has been reported to come off the boil. An expected drop in overall sales countrywide has been estimated at 15% less than last year’s record levels.

This has been related to inhospitable weather, countrywide and a sharp drop in new residential building demands.

Montreal’s market is expected to drop by 4% this year with an estimated 41,800 resale transactions. Those figures are further expected to drop by 2009 to about 40,700 trades.

Although transactions will decrease, housing prices are still going up with a five percent increase in the South Shore and Laval regions.

Compared to the rest of the country Montreal is doing better when we look at these statistics. Sellers who are ready to move on might actually make a nice profit, while others might need to pull their belt a little tighter.

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