My Real Estate Blog - Market Trends, Tips & Updates

The fourth quarter of 2019 saw a 0.6% increase in Canadian home prices nationwide according to a new report.

Statistics Canada’s latest reading of home price trends also reveals that the rise in prices was driven by a 0.9% increase for resales which partially offset a 0.2% decrease for new home prices.

Both condo apartments and houses gained 0.5% across the 6 provinces covered by the report.

For 2019 as a whole, prices were up 1.6%, gaining from the 1.1% full-year rise for 2018.

Ottawa (+2.3%) reported the largest increase in residential property prices in the fourth quarter, led by the new (+3.6%) and resale (+3.3%) condominium apartment markets.

Regional markets
In Toronto, resale condo apartments saw a 1.5% increase in the fourth quarter compared to the previous quarter while new condo apartment prices were down 1.5% (the second consecutive quarterly decline) and were down 3.1% overall in 2019.

For houses in Toronto, prices were up 0.7% in the resale market and the combined rise for condos and houses was 0.4% quarter-over-quarter.

Vancouver rebounded from 5 consecutive quarters of declining prices to post a 0.2% gain month-over-month.

This was driven by resale condominium apartments (+1.1%) and resale houses (+0.6%) while prices for new condominium apartments (-0.8%) and new houses (-0.9%) continued to decline.

Overall in 2019, Vancouver prices were down 2.1% year-over-year.

Oversupply in Calgary meant a decline of 0.2% for home prices in the fourth quarter; New condo apartment prices were down 3.0% quarter-over-quarter and 6.3% for the whole year.

Resale condo apartment prices in Calgary declined by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, following a 2.0% increase in the third quarter.

Montréal prices were up 1.0% with new houses leading the gains with a 2.5% increase. The whole year gain overall was 6.1% as limited supply and labour shortages impacted.