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January 21, 2021NEW HOUSING PRICE INDEX, DECEMBER AND ANNUAL 2020 New housing prices in Nova Scotia were stable month-over-month in December 2020.
Nationally, new home prices were up 0.3% month-over-month in December following a 0.6% gain in November. Across Canada, on average over Mar-Dec 2020, new home prices are up 2.4% compared to the same period in 2019. In contrast, there was 0.1% decline in the average new home prices from March to December 2019.
New housing prices in Nova Scotia increased 7.4% year-over-year in December, posting the second largest annual growth across provinces behind Quebec (+8.2%). This was the second consecutive fastest year-over-year growth in Nova Scotia since April 2008.
In Canada, new housing prices increased 4.6% year-over-year in December, the second consecutive largest annual growth since April 2008. Compared to December 2019, new housing prices were only down in Saskatchewan (-0.7%).
Census Metropolitan Areas
Year-over-year, new home prices increased in the majority of Census Metropolitan Areas in December except for Regina (-2.3%). The fastest growth was recorded in Ottawa (+14.9%) and Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo (+9.8%).
ANNUAL
In 2020, Nova Scotia's new housing prices were up 3.7% compared to 2019. National new housing prices were up 2.1% over 2019 while during 2008/2009 global recession, new housing prices fell 2.3% in 2009 compared to 2008. Quebec saw the fastest growth in new housing prices at 6.2%. New housing prices declined in Saskatchewan (-1.8%) and Alberta (-0.9%) compared to 2019.
In today's release, Statistics Canada noted the factors contributing to higher new housing prices are higher demand for single family homes due to working from home during COVID-19, lower borrowing costs, a surge in lumber prices and lower available inventory of existing houses in 2020 .
Census Metropolitan Areas
In 2020, new home prices in Halifax increased 3.7% compared to 2019. Across Census Metropolitan Areas, the largest growth was recorded in Ottawa (+11.6%) and Montreal (+7.9%). New home prices were down in Regina (-3.9%), Calgary (-1.1%), Edmonton (-0.7%) and Saskatoon (-0.5%).
Statistics Canada Note: With the release of the January 2017 NHPI data, a number of important changes have been introduced to increase the relevance of the index series. The index base period, for which the NHPI equals 100, is now December 2016. The NHPI basket has been updated with new weights for the 2017 series, its coverage has been expanded to include new CMAs.
Source Statistics Canada. Table 18-10-0205-01 New housing price index, monthly
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