Housing price index hits new high

OTTAWA — Housing prices rose in August for the ninth month in a row, according to the Teranet-National Bank national composite house price index, released Wednesday.

The 0.9% gain in August —the fifth time in those nine months that the increase was 0.9% or above — took the index to a new high of 149.46 (the baseline being 100 in June of 2005).

Toronto, where home prices rose 1.6%, led the gains in the index, which would have risen by just 0.6% if Canada’s biggest city was excluded. It was one of four metropolitan areas monitored in the index where housing price increases in August exceeded the national average; the others were Winnipeg (1.3%), Hamilton (1%) and Ottawa-Gatineau (0.9%).

Calgary saw a 0.7% gain month-over-month, while Vancouver and Edmonton both posted a 0.6% increase and Montreal prices rose 0.3%. Prices were flat in Victoria and Quebec and down 0.2% in Halifax.

“Vancouver’s August increase extended its string of consecutive gains to 11, currently the longest run of monthly rises among the markets covered,” said Marc Pinsonneault, senior economist with National Bank. “The Halifax decline was the second in a row.”

Year-over-year, the national increase was 5.4% in August, a level exceeded by five of the index’s 11 metropolitan areas — Vancouver (9.9%), Winnipeg (7.6), Quebec (6.7), Toronto (5.6%). Prices increased over the previous year’s levels by 3.9% in Ottawa-Gatineau, 2.9% in Halifax, 2.4% in Hamilton and 0.8% in Calgary.

“The Calgary appreciation broke a nine-month run of 12-month deflation,” Pinsonneault said. “Prices remained down from a year earlier for a 10th consecutive month in Edmonton (-2.1%) and for a ninth consecutive month in Victoria (-1.2%).