Home prices up 0.1% in February

Canadian home prices in February edged up 0.1% from the previous month, according to the Teranet-National Bank National Composite House Price Index™. It was the third consecutive monthly rise, following on three consecutive monthly declines. The slightness of the increase can be laid to declines in three of the six metropolitan markets surveyed. Prices were up 0.3% from the month before in Vancouver and 0.5% in Montreal and Ottawa. The Ottawa rise broke a run of five straight monthly declines. On the downside, prices fell 0.1% in Toronto, 0.4% in Halifax and 0.5% in Calgary.The 12-month gain in the composite index slowed to 3.8% in February, the eighth consecutive month of deceleration. The largest rises from a year earlier were in the three easternmost cities - 6.9% in Montreal and Ottawa, 7.6% in Halifax. It remains to be seen whether the Halifax result is biased due to the small number of transactions normally recorded in that market between December and February. In Toronto the 12-month increase was 3.4%, in Vancouver 3.5%. Calgary prices were down 3.4% from a year earlier, for a fifth consecutive month of 12-month deflation.
Data for March from the Canadian Real Estate Association show generally balanced conditions in major urban markets. In the two cities where homes are most expensive, Vancouver and Toronto, sales may have been brought forward by the January announcement that the maximum amortization period for an insured mortgage would be reduced to 30 years effective March 18.The Teranet–National Bank House Price Index™ is estimated by tracking observed or registered home prices over time using data collected from public land registries. All dwellings that have been sold at least twice are considered in the calculation of the index. This is known as the repeat sales method; a complete description of the method is given at http://www.housepriceindex.ca/
The Teranet–National Bank House Price Index™ is an independently developed representation of average home price changes in six metropolitan areas: Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, Montreal and Halifax. The national composite index is the weighted average of the six metropolitan areas. The weights are based on aggregate value of dwellings as retrieved from the 2006 Statistics Canada Census. According to that census1, the aggregate value of occupied dwellings in the metropolitan areas covered by the indices was $1.168 trillion, or 53% of the Canadian aggregate value of $2.207 trillion.
All indices have a base value of 100 in June 2005. For example, an index value of 130 means that home prices have increased 30% since June 2005.

Average Selling Price Up in February in GTA

TORONTO - March 3, 2011

Greater Toronto REALTORS®  reported 6,266 transactions through the TorontoMLS® system in February 2011. This result was 14 per cent lower than the record sales reported in February 2010. While not representing a record, February 2011 sales were 50 per cent higher than the number reported in February 2009 during the recession and slightly higher than the average February sales over the previous ten years. "Continued improvement in the GTA economy, including growth in jobs and incomes and a declining unemployment rate, has kept the demand for ownership housing strong,” said Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) President Bill Johnston.The average selling price for


February 2011 transactions was $454,423, which was more than five per cent higher than the average selling price reported in February 2010. “Market conditions remain quite tight in the GTA. There is enough competition between home buyers to promote continued price growth,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s Sen