Calgary Home Prices Continue to Increase

The latest housing price review has been released by Statistics Canada. Calgary continues to lead the country for the third month in a row with the highest increases in home prices. The new Housing Price Index does not include condominiums.

The report shows that the new housing price index went up 0.2% on a national basis in March, 2014. In February, the same gains were reported with Calgary as the top contributor. The price for a Calgary home went up by 0.8% this March according to Statistics Canada.

There were 21 other metropolitan areas that were surveyed and in 11 the prices remained unchanged. Price declines were noted in Victoria, Vancouver, Edmonton, Ottawa-Gatineau and Charlottetown. In St. John's, the prices for new homes went up 0.3%. This was the first gain in home prices that St. John's has reported since last August.

The biggest drop was seen in Vancouver with a 1.1% decrease on a year-over-year basis. Victoria saw a decrease of 0.9%, Ottawa-Gatineau 1.0%, Edmonton 0.1% and Charlottetown 0.4%.

The strongest gains were seen in Calgary with an increase of 7.5% followed by St. Catherine's-Niagara with a jump of 3.4% and Saskatoon, which reported gains of 2.9%. Overall, housing prices remained the same in 11 of the 21 areas surveyed, went down in 5 and up in 5. Montréal and Toronto were 2 of the urban centers where prices were unchanged.

The Calgary real estate market continues to remain strong for a variety of reasons. This city records the highest income levels, continues to see high net migration and future economic forecasts remain strong. Homes prices in Calgary continued to rise but so did the incomes. For those that cannot afford the higher prices in Calgary, there are many bedroom communities around that offer homes that are priced substantially lower than the real estate found in the city.