The real estate industry's residential sector in Vancouver, British Columbia, is faring far better than it is anywhere in the United States.

According to Inman News, lending practices in the region have played a large role in Vancouver's residential recovery. There is less distressed property in Canada because the housing market hasn't been oversaturated with loans handed out by banks.

Rosario Setticasi, president of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, tells the news source that Canada's banking system tends to be a little more conservative in providing loans for homes, and that America's mortgage meltdown did not have any effect on the nation's banking industry.

The majority of home buyers in the United States have been unable to place the minimum 20 percent down payment on their mortgages required by the recently passed Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, Gig Harbor, Washington Patch reports. According to data from the National Association of Realtors, more than 60 percent of home buyers were unable to meet that mark in 2011.

"We are sitting on a good, strong, stable market," Setticasi explained to Inman News. "The consumer out there is always more comfortable with a normal, stable market, and right now we are sitting at that edge. If sales pick up, it's a seller's market again."