According to Statistics Canada, new housing prices were down 0.1 percent at the national level for the third consecutive month in July.
Edmonton (-0.8 percent) reported the largest price decrease in July, with builders offering promotions and cash rebates to stimulate sales. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported that single-family home starts in Edmonton were down 25.2 percent year to date in July compared with the same period in 2018. Single-family homes include single, semi-detached and row houses. Lower demand for housing in this census metropolitan area (CMA) coincided with Edmonton's 7.5 percent unemployment rate in July, the highest level since October 2017.
Unfavorable market conditions and lower negotiated selling prices led to falling prices in Toronto (-0.6 percent) and Vancouver (-0.5 percent) in July. This was the largest decline in Vancouver in nearly a decade.
The prices of new homes continued to increase in Montréal (+1.6 percent) and Ottawa (+0.9 percent) in July because of a combination of factors including, higher construction costs and increased demand coupled with low supply in the housing market.
New house prices at the national level were down 0.4 percent year over year in July, the largest decrease in almost a decade.
Continuing the trend from June, the year-over-year decline in house prices accelerated in Regina (-2.8 percent), Calgary (-2.6 percent) and Edmonton (-2.0 percent) in July. The oversupply of homes, combined with unfavorable market conditions, continued to lower new house prices in these CMAs.
Ottawa (+5.5 percent) and Montréal (+3.6 percent) posted the largest year-over-year increases, with favorable market conditions and higher construction costs contributing to the rise.