Home prices increase in March

Resale home prices saw an increase in March, according to the latest Teranet-National Bank Composite House Price Index (HPI), released on Monday.

The average house price increased by 0.6% for the month, and by 3.8% since March 2019.

Seven out of the 11 markets covered saw an increase in prices last month, including Ottawa-Gatineau (1.1%), Vancouver (1%), Toronto (0.9%), Hamilton (0.4%), Quebec City (0.3%), Montreal (0.2%) and Halifax (0.1%).

The index was flat for Victoria, while the three Prairie cities — Calgary (−0.1%), Edmonton (−0.6%) and Winnipeg (−0.8%) — saw declines.

National Bank warned that cooling prices will continue in future house price indexes after real estate boards revealed a break in activity during the second half of March due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Momentum loss is likely to be most prevalent in the metropolitan markets in Central and Eastern Canada, namely Toronto, Hamilton, Ottawa-Gatineau, Montreal and Halifax, which all saw a price increase in March.

Maddie Johnson

Maddie is a freelance writer and editor who has been reporting for Advisor.ca since 2019.