Canadian October house prices rose by 7.1 percent to $419,699

The average price of a Canadian home reached $419,699 in October, which was 7.1% higher than in October 2013, according to data published by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) on Monday.

Compared to September, October prices were 0.7% higher. Average house prices in Canada today are at record highs.

In volume terms, the number of home sales registered through the MLS Systems of Canadian real estate Boards and Associations rose 0.7% in October compared to the month before.

After a quiet start to the year, house prices have risen for the last six successive months, which represents the strongest stretch of activity since 2009.

CREA President Beth Crosbie, said:

“Low interest rates continued to support sales in some of Canada’s more active and expensive urban housing markets and factored into the monthly increase for national sales. Even so, sales did not increase in many local markets in Canada, which shows that national and local housing market trends can be very different.”

(Source: CREA)

CREA’s chief economist, Gregory Klump pointed out that while the strength of Canada’s sales activity is not widespread across the whole country, it is not just limited to Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver either.

British Columbia, which suffered from sluggish demand for a couple of years, is starting to see accelerating activity. Sales have also improved across a large part of Alberta, where inter-provincial migration and immigration from abroad are reaching new heights, Mr. Klump added.

House sales in October compared to the same month last year were higher in about 70% of all local markets, led by Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, Calgary, Victoria, and Greater Toronto. About forty percent of all Canadian sales activity occurs in these five markets.

These five markets accounted for almost 60% of the year-over-year increase in October’s performance.

Housing activity in the first ten months of 2014 was 5.2% higher than in the same period last year, and marginally above (+2.5%) the 10-year average for the same period.

There was a 0.8% increase in October in the number of newly listed homes. CREA wrote “While new supply was down in just over half of all local markets, outsized gains in Greater Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, and Greater Toronto boosted the national figure.”