New home prices rise for the first time in more than a year

There was a slight increase in the price of new housing nationally in August.

Prices were up 0.1% from July, the first increase since July 2018, led by notable increases in the Sherbrooke (2.1%), Montreal (1.1%), and Trois-Rivieres (0.5%) CMAs due to higher construction costs.

Favourable market conditions reported by builders meant higher prices in the Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo area (1.5%), perhaps due to the strength of the tech sector and the affordability of the market relative to Toronto.

Statistics Canada data also shows that Oshawa and St. Catharines–Niagara were both down 0.4% month-over-month amid unfavourable market conditions.

Year-over-year decline
The newly-released data shows that year-over-year prices declined for a third consecutive month with August posting a 0.3% decline.

The national figure was impacted by sizeable declines in new home prices in Calgary (2.2%) and Regina (2.1%) which led the declines for the third straight month as elevated inventory weighed on prices.

Ottawa (+5.5%) and Montréal (+4.3%) saw the largest year-over-year increases in August, mostly because of the continuing trends of favourable market conditions and higher construction costs.

Out of the 27 CMAs surveyed, Ottawa has been recording the largest year-over-year increases in new house prices since May 2018.

More Mortgage Guide