Late to the party, Scotia Economics conceded at last yesterday that the Canadian housing boom is over. But fear not — we’re still different:

“This is not a ‘U.S.-style’ bust caused by overbuilding, speculative buying and imprudent lending, but rather a cyclical slowdown accompanied by a valuation adjustment in several large centres where booming demand conditions and temporary supply constraints led to an overshooting in prices.”

Oh, so that’s it. Given that we’re still building madly, in urban centres at least, it may be a little premature to make any final calls on overbuilding. I’m not really excited by the idea of a “Spain-style,” “Britain-style”, or “China-style” bust either, so fine, it’s uniquely Canadian. But could we please acknowledge that this is a global housing bust, following a global housing boom? Please?