Canada’s housing market was worth almost 13 per cent more in January compared to a year earlier, with prices driven by a huge surge in Toronto.
The Teranet-National Bank House Price Index was up 0.5 per cent compared to December, matching its largest rises in its 18-year history, in 2003 and 2010.
Month-over-month prices were up in 7 of the 11 markets surveyed led by Hamilton (1.1 per cent), Toronto (0.8) and Montreal (0.8). There were below-national-average rises for Vancouver (0.3), Victoria (0.2), Calgary (0.1) and Quebec City (0.1).
Halifax prices were flat while prices were down from the month before in Winnipeg (0.7), Ottawa-Gatineau (0.7) and Edmonton (0.1).
Toronto house prices soared by a record 20.9 per cent year-over-year followed by Hamilton with a record increase of 17.6 per cent. Victoria (17.1 per cent) and Vancouver (16.4 per cent) also saw double-digit increases.
There were smaller increases year-over-year for Ottawa-Gatineau (4.0 per cent), Montreal (2.8), Winnipeg (2.4), Halifax (1.6), Calgary (1.4) and Edmonton (0.5); while prices in Quebec City slipped 0.2 per cent.
