House-price index shows it's a buyer’s market

Financial Post Published: Wednesday, April 29, 2009

OTTAWA -- House prices were down 4.1% in February compared with a year ago, according to a monthly measure of six key markets in Canada.
The Teranet-National Bank housing-price index, released Wednesday, was off 7.4% from its peak in August of last year.
Four of the six cities measured were showing year-over-year declines in February: Calgary was down 8.1%; Vancouver was down 6.4%; Toronto was down 5%; and Halifax was off by 0.5%.

Rounding out the list were Montreal and Ottawa, which had annual price increases of 3.2% and 2.8%, respectively. Still, the pace of price growth in these markets has slowed in recent months.

On a month-to-month basis, this housing-price index has declined for six months straight, the longest run in the nine years this index has existed.
Marc Pinsonneault, senior economist with National Bank Financial Group, said the latest report provides further evidence of the "buyer's market" that has emerged in the Canadian housing market "after five years of seller's-market conditions from 2002 to 2007."

There have been some hefty price decline in some markets from their peaks, including in Calgary, where prices are down 12% from August 2007, and in Vancouver, where prices have fallen 10.2% since June 2008.
Canwest News Service