Vancouver prices up 4.44% in July

Canada’s average house price rose five per cent year over year to $401,585 in July, according to Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) figures published August 15.

The association said that removing Vancouver and Toronto from the national equation, because those two large and expensive markets “skew” the findings, takes the average Canadian house price to $327,988, a four per cent year-over-year rise.

In the CREA’s breakdown of local markets, Greater Vancouver posted the third-biggest year-over-year increase in house prices at 4.44 per cent, beaten out by gains in Calgary (up 10.48 per cent) and Greater Toronto (up 7.88 per cent).

The number of home sales processed through the MLS® across Canada rose 0.8 per cent on a month-over-month basis, marking the sixth consecutive monthly increase and the highest level for sales since March 2010.

July sales were up from year-ago levels in about 70 per cent of all Canada’s local markets, with Greater Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and the Okanagan seeing the biggest increases nationwide.

Sales activity across the country was up 7.2 per cent year over year in actual (not seasonally adjusted) figures, and up 1.1 per cent over June 2014.

Activity rose in about 60 per cent of all local housing markets in July, with Victoria leading the gains.

“On the surface, national sales activity in July was similar to what we saw in May and June,” said CREA president Beth Crosbie. “That said, July sales picked up in markets that struggled to gain traction in the spring, while activity eased slightly in some of Canada’s largest urban markets.”