Canada New House Prices Rise 0.2% in April

By Robb M. Stewart

OTTAWA--New-house prices in Canada rose modestly last month, driven by increases in a handful of cities in the country's west.

Statistics Canada's new-house price index rose 0.2% in April from the month before, after holding steady in March.

From a year earlier, prices for the month edged down 0.1%, the data agency said on Thursday.

Signs earlier in the year that Canada's housing market was recovering have sputtered of late, though there remain expectations market activity could rise in anticipation the Bank of Canada will pivot to cutting interest rates in the coming months as inflation continues to ease. The central bank has forecast economic growth will pick up this year thanks to strong population growth and a recovery in household spending.

Sales of existing homes dipped 1.7% between March and April and came in a little below the average of the last decade, though the number of newly listed homes rose 2.8% for the month and the overall number of properties on the market reached its highest level since just before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, recent data from the Canadian Real Estate Association showed.

Statistics Canada said prices for new homes increased in five of the 27 metropolitan areas surveyed by the agency, and were unchanged in 15 and down in seven.

The largest month-over-month increases were reported in Edmonton and Calgary, Alberta, with builders pointing to a rise in construction costs along with favorable market conditions. Alberta's population is helping fuel demand for new housing, and the province recorded the fastest annual population rise in the country in the first quarter of the year.

Prices also rose in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The new-house price data from Statistics Canada covers single-dwelling, semi-detached and row houses. It doesn't incorporate prices for newly built condominium units.

Write to Robb M. Stewart at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

05-23-24 0904ET