Canada’s resale home prices continued to rise in January. The HPI of five of the six markets located in Central Canada or in the East (Montreal, Toronto, Hamilton, Ottawa-Gatineau and Halifax) performed well over the last year, the exception being Quebec City. At the opposite, the five righthand charts show negative (Vancouver, Calgary Edmonton) or barely positive (Winnipeg, Victoria) y/y HPI growth. The sub-index for Central and Eastern Canada grew 5.2% over the last 12 months, against a 2.5% fall for the Western sub-index. This is consistent with the various conditions prevailing on the regional markets in Canada. Based on the active-listings-to-sales ratio published by CREA, home resale markets in the Prairie Provinces (Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta) are buyers’ markets, while markets in Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes Provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island) are sellers’ markets. Recently, the Vancouver market went from favorable to buyers to balanced. The behaviour of Vancouver Teranet-National Bank HPI, which rose over the last four months, is consistent with this improvement in market conditions.

February 2020