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It has become the new mantra of real estate watchers — there’s no crash coming, just a soft landing and an ever-so-minor correction in prices.

[np_storybar title=”Expect a ‘soft landing’ for condo development, housing market, bankers say” link=”http://business.financialpost.com/2013/01/08/rbcs-gord-nixon-says-housing-market-is-solid-despite-slowdown-in-mortgage-lending/”]Speaking to a RBC banking conference in Toronto on Tuesday, the country’s top bankers said they don’t expect a dramatic downturn like one experienced by the United States about five years ago.

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The message came through loud and clear from three separate sources Tuesday: a Bank of Montreal roundtable of industry players, a new forecast from one of the country’s largest real estate companies and the head of the country’s largest bank.

But nobody can escape the fact sales are falling fast in the housing sector. In Canada’s most expensive city for housing, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver said in January total sales in 201 were off 22.7% from a year earlier. The decline in Toronto was not as steep but sales were off about 3.8% in 2012 compared to 2011, with the trend picking up steam later in the year.