Canada: Housing prices growth hits the highest level since August 2017 in April
According to the Teranet-National Bank Composite House Price Index, house price growth accelerated to 2.4% on a month-on-month non-seasonally-adjusted basis in April, from March’s 1.5%. In annual terms, house prices were up 11.9% in April—the fasted pace in over three-and-a-half years—and accelerating from the previous month’s 10.8% rise.
In March, prices in all 11 markets surveyed increased over the month prior. Prices in Halifax, Victoria and Vancouver increased robustly, while prices in Toronto—which accounts for over one-third of the 11-city composite index—surged 3.0% month-on-month.
Commenting on the short-term outlook for the housing market, Rishi Sondhi, an economist at TD Economics, noted:
“we expect sales to trend lower in the second half of 2021, as rising interest rates and (potentially) stricter stress test regulations begin to bite. This should also sap some steam from price growth.”