New house prices down slightly after 3 months unchanged
New house prices in Canada slipped 0.1% in May
Steve Randall
REP
New house prices in Canada slipped 0.1% in May, following three months unchanged.
Data from Statistics Canada shows that the largest declines were in Saskatoon (-0.5%) and Victoria (-0.4%) amid worsening market conditions with unemployment rising in both CMAs.
There were also declines of 0.3% for new house prices in Edmonton, Kelowna, Toronto, and Vancouver.
Prices in Charlottetown saw the largest increase in the month, up 1% from April.
Over 12 months, new house prices nationally were unchanged in May.
The report acknowledges the larger down payment now required by potential buyers of new homes due to the combination of factors including higher home prices, rising mortgage rates, and the stress test for new mortgages.
The largest annual decline in new home prices was in Regina (-2.7%) followed by Saskatoon and Victoria which both slipped 1.4%.
There were also decreases for Toronto (-0.6%) and Vancouver (-0.9%) while Ottawa posted the largest increase (4.7%) followed by London (3%) and Montreal (2.7%).
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