Regina sees highest increase in new housing prices
Posted: October 12, 2011
Regina boasted the highest increase in new housing prices from July to August and was tied with Toronto and Oshawa for having the highest year-over-year increase in new housing prices, Statistics Canada said Wednesday.
Regina also has the dubious distinction of seeing the greatest increase in new housing prices since 2007, having increased 49.3 per cent, slightly ahead of St. John’s, N.L., at 46.7 per cent.
Between July and August, Regina posted the largest increase in the new housing price index at 1.2 per cent, followed by the combined regions of Sudbury and Thunder Bay at 0.9 per cent, as well as Saint John, Fredericton and Moncton at 0.6 per cent.
In Regina, as well as in Sudbury and Thunder Bay, the price increases were primarily the result of increased material costs, StatsCan said. Builders in Saint John, Fredericton and Moncton cited good market conditions as the main reason for their price increases.
Nationally, the new housing price index rose 0.1 per cent in August, following a similar increase in July, the federal agency said. Prices remained unchanged in six of the 21 metropolitan regions surveyed in August.
The most significant monthly price declines were recorded in Vancouver, which saw a 0.4-per-cent drop in new housing prices, and Victoria, where prices fell 0.3 per cent, as builders recorded lower negotiated selling prices or offered promotional pricing to generate sales.
On a year-over-year basis, the index was up 2.3 per cent in August following a similar increase in July. The largest year-over-year price increases were in Toronto and Oshawa, as well as in Regina, which were at 5.1 per cent.
Compared with August 2010, contractors’ selling prices were also higher in St. John’s and Winnipeg, both at 4.1 per cent, followed by Kitchener — Cambridge — Waterloo at 3.4 per cent.
Among the 21 metropolitan regions surveyed, five posted 12-month price declines in August, led by Windsor at 3.2 per cent and Victoria, which fell by 1.9 per cent.
The index is designed to measure the changes in the selling prices of new houses where detailed specifications pertaining to each house remain the same between two consecutive periods.
The prices in the index are market selling prices less value-added taxes, such as the federal Goods and Services Tax or the Harmonized Sales Tax.
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