HPI Monthly Report: Home Prices up 0.6% in September

In September the Teranet–National Bank National Composite House Price Index™ was up 0.6% from the previous month, a ninth consecutive monthly increase. This rise was well above the 17-year September average of 0.2%. However, prices were up on the month in only six of the 11 metropolitan markets surveyed – 1.9% in Halifax, 1.6% in Vancouver, 1.3% in Hamilton, 0.8% in Victoria, 0.7% in Calgary and 0.6% in Toronto. Prices in Edmonton were flat. Prices were down 1.9% in Quebec City, 1.4% in Winnipeg, 0.5% in Ottawa-Gatineau and 0.4% in Montreal. The composite index was at an all-time high in September for a seventh consecutive month, though only the Victoria, Vancouver, Hamilton and Toronto component indexes matched it in this regard. The resale market in those centres is a seller’s market by the Canadian Real Estate Association criterion of sales relative to new listings. For the last three of these four markets it was the fifth consecutive monthly rise. For Edmonton and Quebec City, it was a fourth straight month with no rise in prices. The Vancouver index, at 201.2 in September, is the first to top 200, meaning that prices in that market are slightly more than twice as high as in June 2005.

In September the composite index was up 5.6% from a year earlier, the largest 12-month rise since May 2012. The 12-month gain was well above the countrywide average in Hamilton (10.6%), Vancouver (10.4%) and Toronto (8.6%). It was close to the average in Victoria (5.9%). Prices were barely up from a year earlier in Edmonton (0.8%), Calgary (0.3%) and Ottawa-Gatineau (0.2%). Prices were flat in Montreal, and down from a year earlier in Quebec City (−2.9%), Winnipeg (−2.3%) and Halifax (−0.2%).