Calgary house prices were down 0.5% between July & August according to Teranet-National House Price index released today. Year-over-year in August, house prices in Calgary were up 5.0%.
For the Canadian composite index as a whole the monthly increase in August was 0.2%, the smallest since the index began climbing 16 months ago. The uninterrupted string of 16 monthly gains exceeds the 14-month run of August 2005 through September 2006. Year-over-year, the index was up 10.4%.
“Looking ahead, prices are likely to fluctuate without tendency over the next few years. At the national level, current market conditions, close to the boundary between balanced market and buyers’ market … herald a deceleration in home price inflation,” said National Bank senior economist Marc Pinsonneault.
House prices are being buoyed by low mortgage rates, but at some point people will realize rates are heading up sooner or later, he said. “When that happens, preference for renting instead of buying should increase … This should reduce the pressure on house prices.”
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The Teranet–National Bank House Price Index™ is estimated by tracking observed or registered home prices over time using data collected from public land registries. All dwellings that have been sold at least twice are considered in the calculation of the index. This is known as the repeat sales method; a complete description of the method is given at www.housepriceindex.ca
All indices have a base value of 100 in June 2005. For example, an index value of 130 means that home prices have increased 30% since June 2005.
