Home Price Index Moving Up

The Canadian Resale market swung upwards in December, according to the latest release of the Teranet-National Bank Composite House Price Index- which indicated increases in five of the six markets surveyed.

The index indicates that prices were up 0.3% in December from November, as well as having gone up 4.1% from the same time the year before.Looking at specific regions, there was a 0.1% increase in Calgary- which signalled the first gain out of the last five months. In Vancouver and Montreal both, the rise was 0.5%. Toronto rose 0.2%. Halifax was a much larger 3.6%- which did not impact the overall index as much as one might think.On the other side of the spectrum, Ottawa declined by 0.4%- which is the fourth consecutive decline.
Looking year-over-year, this was the “sixth month in a row of deceleration”- with the only exception being Halifax, where they accelerated by 8.5%.

The report says,” Data for January from the Canadian Real Estate Association show generally balanced conditions in major urban markets. Toronto and Vancouver could even be considered rather tight markets. The federal minister of finance announced January 17 that the maximum amortization period for an insured mortgage will be reduced to 30 years from 35 years effective March 18. This prospect could influence the resale market between now and the effective date.”