New Home Prices Continue to Climb: Stats Can

Home prices continued to climb in August, according to new data released by Stats Can.

Fuelled by a healthy demand, sound underlying economic fundamentals, as well as a continuing low interest rate environment that contributes to supporting affordability, August marked the fifth month in a row of price appreciation.

The New Home Price Index rose marginally in August, up 0.1%.  Most of the increase could be centred in the Toronto and Oshawa areas. Prices actually fell in Victoria and Vancouver.

In August, prices remained fairly flat in 6 of the 21 markets surveyed.

Between July and August, the greatest increase came from Regina- mostly attributed to an increase in material costs.

This is a comment on the strength of the Canadian housing market.  Despite weakening activity in the economy (the economy even stalled slightly towards the end of the summer), there is no keeping this robust market down.

On the heels of news from CMHC, stating that building starts in September far exceeded analyst expectation, led by a surge in multi-unit building starts, things keep moving upward for the housing industry.

Year-over-year, prices continue to climb as well. “Year-over-year, the NHPI was up 2.3% in August following a similar increase in July. The main contributors to the advance in August were the metropolitan regions of Toronto and Oshawa as well as Montréal.”

“The largest year-over-year price increases were in Toronto and Oshawa as well as in Regina (both +5.1%).Compared with August 2010, contractors’ selling prices were also higher in St. John’s and Winnipeg (both +4.1%), followed by Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo (+3.4%).Among the 21 metropolitan regions surveyed, 5 posted 12-month price declines in August, led by Windsor (-3.2%)

www.propertywire.ca Thursday, 13 October 2011 10:34 Editorial Team