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TORONTO - Sleep easier tonight.

With national crime rates at a 30-year low, Canada might feel like a safer place to live, experts say.

A drop in property offences such as break-ins and motor-vehicle thefts last year helped fuel the downward trend, according to 2007 data released by Statistics Canada Thursday.

But the violent crime rate for offences such as homicide, sexual assault and robbery also fell three per cent, hitting its lowest point since 1989.

“It's good news, isn't it? It's hard not to see the good news,” said University of Ottawa criminologist Ron Melchers.

Most census metropolitan areas reported fewer crimes in 2007, with Kitchener, Montreal and Winnipeg showing the biggest declines.

Overall, homicide rates were down for the second year in a row, dropping by three per cent in 2007.

Those numbers were partially offset, the report said, by a “substantial increase” in Manitoba, where 62 homicides were reported – 23 more than the year before.

Canadian police reported 594 homicides in 2007, compared to 606 in 2006.

The seven-per-cent overall decline in crime rates last year makes 2007 the third straight year of decreasing offences reported to police.

Only Newfoundland and Labrador, the Northwest Territories and Yukon reported an increase in police-reported crime rates, the survey says.

For the 10th year in a row, Saskatchewan held onto its title for the highest provincial crime rate, despite a 3.5-per-cent overall decline.

Saskatoon clinched top spot for the rate of total Criminal Code offences.

Indeed, Western Canada still leads the pack when it comes to the highest crime rates overall, a pattern stretching back three decades.

Despite an overall decrease in property thefts, car theft rates remain highest in Winnipeg, followed by Abbotsford.

The youth crime rate declined two per cent in 2007 after a three-per-cent increase the year before. However, violent crime rates among youth have been steadily climbing since the mid-1980s.

Drug offences and impaired driving were among the few crimes that rose slightly.

Still, Canadians can take heart at the increasingly rosy picture, Mr. Melchers said.

“Don't be giddy and leave your windows open if you live on the first floor,” said Mr. Melchers.

“[But] go to bed tonight feeling safe.”