Terranet Home Price Index Shows Monthly price rise of 0.8% in April

Canadian home prices in April were up 12.9% from a year earlier, according to the Teranet-National Bank National Composite House Price Index™. This acceleration from 12-month rises of 7.5% in January, 9.9% in February and 11.6% in March is attributable to the deflation that was still in progress 12 months earlier. Since April was the anniversary of the index bottom, this base effect has now run its course. The 12-month gain of the composite index in April was strongly influenced by Toronto, up 17.0%, and Vancouver, up 15.6%. In the four other markets surveyed, the 12-month rise was less than 10%.


For the first time in five months, all six metropolitan areas surveyed showed prices up from the month before, and for the first time in eight months, all six monthly gains exceeded 0.5%. These results end a three-month run of deceleration. The April monthly rise was 1.9% in Halifax, 1.1% in Montreal and Ottawa, 0.8% in Vancouver and Calgary and 0.6% in Toronto. For the composite index the rise was 0.8%, the strongest in four months. The string of 12 consecutive monthly increases was the longest since September 2006.