New house prices level off in December

New house prices level off in December


Reuters


Thursday, February 08, 2007



CREDIT: Getty
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp said housing starts had risen in January to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 249,300 units from an upwardly revised 212,600 units in December.

OTTAWA -- Average prices of new houses in Canada did not show a monthly increase in December for the first time since June 2000 as superheated markets in western Canada showed signs of cooling down.

Statistics Canada said on Thursday December's new home prices were up 10.7 percent from a year earlier, but unchanged from November.

Tellingly, new housing prices in Calgary, though still up 42.4 percent from a year earlier because of an oil boom, showed a rare month-on-month decline, falling 0.5 percent. New home prices in Edmonton rose by a modest 0.2 percent from November and Vancouver's prices were unchanged.

The Bank of Canada pays close attention to housing prices in setting interest rates, describing fast rising house prices as a key upside risk to its inflation outlook.

Separately, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp said housing starts had risen in January to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 249,300 units from an upwardly revised 212,600 units in December.

Urban starts were am adjusted, annualized 216,300 units in January, up 19.2 percent from December. Urban multiples surged 31.4 percent to 124,300 units in January, while singles jumped 5.9 percent to 92,000 units.

Rural starts in January were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 33,000 units.

© Reuters 2007