Toronto was one of a handful of housing markets to see home prices climb in January from the month before, according to the Teranet-National Bank National Composite House Price Index. Overall, the composite index, which covers 11 major Canadian metro areas, was up 0.3 per cent in January compared to December 2017.

National Bank Senior Economist Marc Pinsonneault suggested a 1.2-per-cent month-over-month increase in Vancouver was largely responsible for the rise in the national index. Only three other markets showed gains through that two-month period. In Victoria, home prices climbed 1 per cent, while Toronto posted an increase of 0.2 per cent and Montreal saw an index uptick of 0.1 per cent. Toronto’s index hadn’t risen in the six months prior, according to Pinsonneault. The recent recovery was attributed to the condo segment, which observers has noted has been resilient even as the Toronto market cooled beginning last year. The greatest decline in the index occurred in Winnipeg, where the index was down 1.1 per cent.

On an annual basis, the composite index soared by 8.7 per cent, although Pinsonneault suggested that year-on-year increases haven’t sunk to that level since May 2016. Annual increases began cooling after June, when the index was up 14.2 per cent from 12 months prior. Again, Toronto was in the top four.

As with the month-on-month index, Vancouver posted the strongest gains as the index surged 16.9 per cent, followed by Victoria’s 12.3-per-cent increase. In Hamilton, the index was up 9.8 per cent—though the January index reading was 0.25 per cent down from the previous month. Toronto home prices in January were 8.4 per cent higher than a year ago but the rise was a tick under the national average, according to the index. Quebec City was the lone major market in the composite market in which prices declined. They dropped 1.2 per cent from last year.

 

 

Article and photo credit:  Jeff Hitchcock