Housing Prices Across Canada – March 2010

Housing Prices Across Canada – March 2010

As many of you know, we are still in a correcting economy and real estate markets across Canada play a big part in that.

A recent report by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) says that house price increases have not necessarily been as dramatic as they seem in some media reports.

“To a large extent, price gains in 2009 reflected a rebound back to levels that prevailed prior to the economic downturn. In particular, measured from the fourth quarter of 2007 to the fourth quarter of 2009, home prices rose 6.5 per cent. This translates to an average annual rate of price growth of less than 3.5 per cent over this period, which is not out of line with average historical rates,” says CMHC.

Many of the media reports rely on average MLS prices as a measure of price increases, but CMHC notes that these numbers are skewed when there’s been a lot of activity in higher price ranges in the most expensive markets in B.C. and Ontario.

Below, you’ll find a comparison of housing prices across Canada, for March, 2009 and March, 2010.

I hope you find the statistics and information below interesting.

Hot Off The Press:

• Fixed rates on the 5 year term have just dropped slightly, approximately .15% – .30% depending on the lender.
• Prime rate remains at 2.25%. For a schedule of upcoming rate announcements on the Bank of Canada website, see this link:

http://www.bank-banque-canada.ca/en/monetary/schedule.html

Average MLS Housing Prices for Major Canadian Cities:

Halifax: $229,548 in March, 2009…$255,818 in March, 2010

Saint John: $158,731 in March, 2009…$169,256 in March, 2010

Quebec: $203,935 in March, 2009…$233,529 in March, 2010

Montreal: $259,322 in March, 2009…$287,420 in March, 2010

Ottawa: $287,911 in March, 2009…$330,906 in March, 2010

Toronto: $362,050 in March, 2009…$434,693 in March, 2010

Hamilton/Burlington: $263,120 in Mar, 2009…$313,372 in March, 2010

Winnipeg: $211,408 in March, 2009…$227,167 in March, 2010

Saskatoon: $266,720 in March, 2009…$282,615 in March, 2010

Calgary: $372,114 in March, 2009…$405,551 in March, 2010

Edmonton: $309,032 in March, 2009…$342,933 in March, 2010

Vancouver: $530,763 in March, 2009…$693,482 in March, 2010

Victoria: $441,380 in March, 2009…$521,917 in March, 2010

Source: Canadian Real Estate Association