New housing prices in Calgary remained flat for the third consecutive month as of October, according to a Statistics Canada report released on Thursday (December 10). The same report also noted that annual prices in the region went down by 0.6 per cent.
The report said that lower negotiated selling prices made up for building cost increases stemming from new Calgary regulations.
This is in stark contrast with the average new home price index (NHPI) nationwide, which rose by 0.3 per cent in October. According to Statistics Canada, increased prices in Ontario and other high-demand regions played a large part in this increase.
“The combined region of Toronto and Oshawa (+0.5 per cent) was the top contributor to the increase, recording the largest monthly price advance among the census metropolitan areas covered by the survey. Market conditions and the higher cost of land were reported by some builders as the reasons for the increase,” the report said, as quoted by the Calgary Herald.
Apart from Calgary, 9 other Canadian metropolitan areas (out of the 21 surveyed for the report) featured static new housing prices.
