New Housing Price Index, June 2013
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Released: 2013-08-08
The New Housing Price Index (NHPI) rose 0.2% in June, following a 0.1% increase in May. This continued a series of similar gains over the past 15 months.
Chart 1
New Housing Price Index
Calgary was the top contributor to the national advance for the fifth consecutive month, as prices for new homes rose 0.5% in June. Builders reported an increase in material and labour costs as well as higher land prices as the main reasons for higher prices.
Prices also rose 0.5% in both Saskatoon and London. Builders in Saskatoon reported higher material costs, while builders in London cited market conditions as the main reason for the growth. This was the largest monthly price movement in London since November 2012, when prices rose 0.6%. New housing prices in the region had shown little or no growth since that time.
Edmonton also saw a notable increase as prices for new homes rose 0.3% in June. This was the largest price movement in that region since March 2012, when monthly prices rose 0.4%. Builders reported market conditions as the main reason for higher prices.
Prices decreased 0.2% in Hamilton, Windsor and Vancouver in June as builders in all three regions reported lower selling prices. This was the first decrease in Hamilton in six months.
Prices were unchanged in 6 of the 21 metropolitan areas surveyed.
Chart 2
Winnipeg and Calgary post the highest year-over-year price increases
On a year-over-year basis, the NHPI rose 1.8% in the 12 months to June, following an identical annual increase in May. Prior to that, annual gains in the index had been 2.0% or more since the second half of 2011.
The main contributor to the annual advance was Calgary, where the year-over-year increase in contractors' selling prices was 5.3%. Annual price increases in the region have generally been accelerating since early 2012.
Year-over-year prices for new homes were also up 5.3% in the metropolitan area of Winnipeg, following a 5.8% increase in May.
Other significant year-over-year increases occurred in St. Catharines–Niagara (+3.4%), Halifax (+2.9%) and Regina (+2.5%).
Among the 21 metropolitan areas surveyed, Victoria (-1.4%) and Vancouver (-1.1%) posted the largest 12-month price declines in June. New housing prices in Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo (-0.1%) also edged down during this period.
Note to readers
The New Housing Price Index measures changes over time in the selling prices of new residential houses agreed upon between the contractor and the buyer at the time of the signing of the contract. It 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 collected from builders and included in the index are market selling prices less value added taxes, such as the Federal Goods and Services Tax or the Harmonized Sales Tax.
The indexes are not subject to revision and are not seasonally adjusted.
The first quarter 2013 issue of Capital Expenditure Price Statistics, Vol. 29, no. 1 (Catalogue number62-007-X, free), is available from the Browse by key resource module of our website under Publications. The second quarter 2013 issue is scheduled for release in October. This will be the last edition of the publication. In the future, all the information currently in the publication will be available free of charge on our website.
The New Housing Price Index for July will be released on September 12.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@canada.ca).
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