Price declines in all six markets in September

Canadian home prices in September were down 1.1% from the previous month, according to the Teranet-National Bank National Composite House Price Index™. The monthly decline ended a string of 16 consecutive increases in the composite index since the last monthly deflation in April 2009. For the first time since February 2009, prices fell in all six of the metropolitan markets surveyed. The declines were 2.4% in Halifax, 2.2% in Calgary, 1.6% in Toronto, 0.5% in Ottawa and 0.3% in Montreal and Vancouver. For Vancouver it was the third consecutive monthly decrease and for Calgary it was the second.
This result was reflected in a further deceleration of the 12-month price increase in September, to 7.9% for the composite index. It was the third consecutive month of deceleration, leaving the 12-month rise the smallest since last January. The 12-month increases range quite widely from market to market: 9.2% in Vancouver and Ottawa, 9.0% in Toronto, 7.6% in Montreal, 3.6% in Halifax and 1.7% in Calgary.