After five straight quarterly declines, housing prices in Vancouver resumed their climb in the fourth quarter of 2019, Statistics Canada reports.
The national statistical agency said that residential property prices rose by 0.2% in Vancouver in the fourth quarter, led by condo resales (1.1%) and resale houses (0.6%). The increase follows five quarters of declining prices in the Vancouver market.
In Toronto, housing prices rose by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, led by a 1.5% increase in condo prices and a 0.7% in resale houses. For 2019, resale prices rose by 4.6% in Toronto, StatsCan said.
While prices for resale properties rose in 2019, new condo prices in Toronto declined by 1.5% in the fourth quarter (the second consecutive quarterly decline) and were down by 3.1% for the year.
Ottawa was the hottest urban market in 2019, due to rising demand. In the fourth quarter, residential property prices rose by 2.3% in the national capital, and prices were up 9.6% for the year.
Housing prices in Montreal rose 1.0% in the fourth quarter. StatsCan said this was the seventh consecutive quarterly increase in the city.
For 2019, residential property prices were up by 6.1% in Montréal, “stimulated by steady demand for housing…coupled with limited housing supply and labour shortages,” StatsCan noted.
Calgary was the only major market to see housing prices decline in the fourth quarter. Prices dipped by 0.2%, “mostly because of an oversupply in the housing market over the previous year and high unemployment rates.”