No, not OUR paradise, but down south in California where the slumping market is causing Vancouver developer Nat Bosa to delay building the first high-rise project in Orange County.

“I was supposed to start last year,” Bosa added, “but I’m probably not going to start them until the middle of next year.” Bosa said San Diego, where he is also building condominiums, is also at the bottom of the real-estate cycle, and “I’ve seen quite a few of them since the ’70s.”

He is not alone. Other developers, including Canadian firms that went south of the border to jump into hot U.S. markets have also put projects on hold while times are tight.

Orange County’s condo market exploded after Bosa Development started the Marquee project, the Orange County Register said this week. However, the Register reported that some 17 of 37 proposed highrise condo projects might be delayed due to slumping markets.

Bosa added that the collapse of the American subprime mortgage sector has compounded some of the market’s difficulties, making it harder for buyers to get financing.

“Getting a mortgage three months ago was like a walk around Stanley Park,” Bosa said. “Getting a mortgage now is more like walking the Grouse Grind. It’s tougher.”