Teranet: Canadian home prices post smallest increase since 2009

The April 2013 numbers just released by the Teranet-National Bank National Composite House Price Index strongly recall those posted the previous month, save for one big difference.

For the 12-month period ending in April, Canadian house prices rose by 2 per cent. Though that isn’t a huge drop from the 2.6 per cent increase we reported for the period ending in March 2013, the new April numbers represent the smallest 12-month rise since November 2009.

Once more, the story south of the border is markedly different. The Case-Shiller home price index of 20 U.S. metropolitan markets posted a significant 9.3 per cent rise from a year earlier in February (the latest available reading).

Across Canada, the values differ from market to market.

Here’s how the metro markets fared:

The year-over-year numbers

  • Seven of the cities studied posted gains higher than the national average, the same amount that posted higher-than-average increases last March.
  • Once again, Quebec City led the pack, this time posting a 6.1 per cent increase over the last 12-months, followed by Calgary (5.5 per cent), Hamilton (5.4 per cent), Winnipeg (4.4 per cent), Toronto (4.3 per cent), Edmonton (3.6 per cent) and Halifax (2.8 per cent).
  • Though prices were below the average gains in Ottawa-Gatineau and Montreal, they still saw small prices increases of 1.5 per cent and 1.3 per cent respectively.
  • British Columbia fared less well: in the year-period ending in April, Victoria prices dropped by 3.3 per cent and Vancouver saw its ninth straight month of 12-month deflation, decreasing by 1.5 per cent.

The month-to-month stats

  • The composite index was up only 0.2 per cent from March.
  • Despite the promise of a revived spring market, it was the weakest April for monthly change in the last 15 years since the index started, excluding April 2009, when the country was in recession.
  • However, three markets saw higher increases than the national average: Winnipeg (1.3 per cent), Edmonton (1.3 per cent) and Calgary (1.2 per cent).
  • The majority of cities saw month-to-moth prices flatline in April: Hamilton (0.6 per cent), Montreal (0.5 per cent) and Toronto (0.4 per cent).
  • Prices dropped from the previous month in five markets: Vancouver (0.8 per cent), Quebec City (0.5 per cent), Ottawa-Gatineau (0.2 per cent) and Victoria and Halifax (0.1 per cent).

Check out the charts below for more details…

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