| Home Prices
The Aggregate Composite MLS® Home Price Index (MLS® HPI) rose 0.9% month-over-month in August 2021. In line with tighter market conditions, this was the first acceleration in month-over-month price growth since February. While the trend of re-accelerating prices was first observed earlier this summer in Ontario, the reversal at the national level in August was less of a regional story and more of a critical mass story. Synchronous trends across the country have been the defining feature of the housing story since COVID-19 first hit, and that still appears to be the case.
The non-seasonally adjusted Aggregate Composite MLS® HPI was up 21.3% on a year-over-year basis in August.
Looking across the country, year-over-year price growth is averaging around 20% in B.C., though it is lower in Vancouver, a bit lower in Victoria, and higher in other parts of the province. Year-over-year price gains are in the mid-to-high single digits in Alberta and Saskatchewan, while gains were a little over 10% in Manitoba.
Ontario saw year-over-year price growth still over 20% in August. However, as with B.C. big, medium and smaller city trends, gains are notably lower in the GTA, around the provincial average in Oakville-Milton, Hamilton-Burlington and Ottawa, and considerably higher in most smaller markets in the province.
The opposite is true in Quebec, where Greater Montreal’s year-over-year price growth, at a little over 20%, is almost double that of Quebec City. Price growth is running a little above 30% in New Brunswick (higher in Greater Moncton, a little lower in Fredericton and Saint John), while Newfoundland and Labrador is in the 10% range on a year-over-year basis (a bit lower in St. John’s). |