Average Canadian house price up 13% in April, but wide regional variances remain
Canada’s housing market hit new all-time records both for the average price and the number of homes sold in April. (Associated Press)
The Canadian Real Estate Association says the average house price increased by more than 13 per cent in the year ended in April.
CREA has said for several months in a row that the average price is skewed higher by the hot and large markets of Toronto and Vancouver. Stripping those two cities out, the national average drops to $369,222 and the year-over-year gain is reduced to 8.7 per cent, CREA said.
CREA says the average figure is misleading, so it calculates something it calls the Aggregate Composite MLS House Price Index, and contends it’s a fairer representation of the real market, by blending together all housing types.
Even on that more normalizing scale, the CREA index rose 10.3 per cent in April, its biggest gain in almost six years stretching back to May 2010.
Here are the eye-popping numbers for some areas in and around Toronto and Vancouver:
- The Greater Vancouver Area’s index increased by 25.3 per cent
- The nearby Fraser Valley increased by 25.6 per cent
- Prices in the GTA were up by 12.6 per cent
- Victoria was up 12 per cent
- Vancouver Island prices were up by 8.2 per cent.
By way of contrast, prices declined by 3.5 per cent and 2.4 per cent in Calgary and Saskatoon, respectively, which are smaller declines than those posted by these markets in March.
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