Sun
Prices for Canadian homes sold and bought in June were 13.6-per-cent higher than prices in the previous June, a national survey of real estate transactions reports.
The advance was strongly influenced by the Vancouver number, of 16.3 per cent, and the Toronto number, 16.2 per cent, the Teranet-National Bank National Composite House Price Index reports.
The June advance nationally was identical to the May advance.
In the other metropolises surveyed, the 12-month rise ranged from 7.1 per cent in Halifax to 12 per cent in Ottawa. In Calgary, it was 8.3 per cent and in Montreal, 8.7 per cent.
June was the third consecutive month in which prices were up from the month before in all six metropolitan areas surveyed. The monthly rise of the composite index — 1.5 per cent — was the largest since last August. The monthly rise was 2.7 per cent in Ottawa; 2.4 per cent in Toronto; 1.4 per cent in Montreal; 1.3 per cent in Halifax; 0.8 per cent in Vancouver; and 0.2 per cent in Calgary. For the composite index, it was the 14th straight monthly increase, the longest such run since October 2006.
“Since the resale market has been slackening across Canada — from April to July of this year, more existing homes came on the market than were sold — it is too early to conclude that the relatively vigorous prices rises of April, May and June launched a trend,” said the Teranet-National Bank report. “The prospect of harmonized sales taxes coming into effect July 1 in Ontario and B.C. may have stimulated sales in Vancouver, Toronto and Ottawa in the preceding months.”
The price index is calculated from transaction information collected from public land registries. Only dwellings that have been sold at least twice are considered in the calculation.
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun