Canadian House Prices Continue to Rise, including K-W

Canadian Housing Prices have risen to record levels, according to the latest release of the Teranet National Bank National Composite House Price Index on September 29th.

For the eight month in a row, prices for resale homes increased- which sets a new record.
The index examines resale housing prices in six metropolitan areas. For the month of July, prices rose by 1.3% from the month previous. The index now rests at 146.51.

Also, this marks the fourth month in a row where an increase exceeded 1%.
Not only that, five of the six areas surveyed reached record breaking highs in July. The exception was Calgary, where the housing market is still feeling the after effects of the recession. Prices there are still down 8.8% from their pre-recessionary highs in 2007.

Annually, prices have gone up by 5.3%. Vancouver, still enjoying the flood of foreign investment money into their market, led the charge, with prices in that city rising by 8.5%, year-over-year. Toronto as well, saw significant price advances, year-over-year.

Looking at monthly gains by regions: prices went up by 2.3% in Calgary, 1.7% in Toronto, 1% in Ottawa, 0.9% in Vancouver and 0.5 % in Montreal, while Halifax registered the only decline- 0.9%.
Markets across the country appear to be heading into- or are already in- balanced territory- with the exception of Toronto, where a lack of inventory is contributing to a tightening of the market.

According to MLS data, in Kitchener-Waterloo the average home price (including all types of homes) for 2011 up to September is $294,919.  The average home price in 2010 was $275,114.