The CREA’s December figures show the average national price was 0.9% higher than the same time a year earlier, which is the smallest year-over-year increase since October 2010.

But while prices seem to have stalled, sales activity has not, with activity up 1.8% in December over November, and up 4.6% from a year ago.

“The momentum in sales activity provides clear evidence that low interest rates continue to draw homebuyers to the housing market,” said Gary Morse, CREA president.

If low interest rates are the impetus for the latest sales activity, then January could be even stronger.

BMO last week unveiled Canada's lowest fixed rate, 2.99% for five years. Additionally, economists widely predict Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney to keep interest rates at their 1% benchmark Tuesday.

CREA Chief Economist Gregory Klump sees it as a positive sign that national prices haven’t continued to follow sales activity upwards, however.

“Momentum for national sales activity and average price remain positive but is slowing, which suggests that the continuation of low interest rates is not causing the Canadian housing market to overheat,” he said. “High end home sales seem unlikely to spike again in the first quarter like they did in the beginning of 2011, so national average price momentum may wane further over the next few months.”

Flat price movement going forward, along with lower interest rates, will benefit homeowners looking to get into the market in 2012, said Klump.

But within the leveling of prices nationally, there were wide variations in December within the provinces.

Specifically, Manitoba saw the largest gain in average price,  up 12.5% from $239,183 in December 2010 to $268,977 in December 2011. Prince Edward Island saw prices drop from $144,327 to $128,106 over that same period, down 11.2%. British Columbia was the only other province to see a price drop, as Vancouver prices fell 1.7% from $700,773 to $689,057, nearly mirroring the movement of the provincial average, down 2% from $523,990 in December 2010 to $513,583 in December 2011.