Home sales were up in the second quarter of 2009, above levels reported for the same period last year, says the Canadian Real Estate Association. (CBC)

Canada's resale housing market "bounced back strongly" in the second quarter of 2009, above levels reported for the same period last year, says the Canadian Real Estate Association.

According to figures released Tuesday, demand is up most strikingly in the country's more pricey neighbourhoods, skewing up the average cost of a resale home.

Actual sales rose by 147,351 homes, or 1.4 per cent, compared with the second quarter of 2008. It is the first year-over-year increase in quarterly activity since the fourth quarter of 2007.

"Potential buyers who moved to the sidelines late last year when economic uncertainty peaked are returning to the housing market now that the worst of the recession may be behind us," Dale Ripplinger, president of the Canadian Real Estate Association, said in a release.

Home sales in Western Canada continue to lead the market.

At $318,696, the average sale price was up half a per cent from the previous record quarter of 2008.