Canadian home prices scale new heights

Resale home prices rose to a record high in July, their eighth consecutive monthly gain, a report released on Wednesday said.

The monthly report on the Teranet-National Bank Composite House Price Index, which measures price changes for repeat sales of single-family homes in six metropolitan areas, showed overall prices were up 1.3 percent in July from June.

It was the fourth consecutive monthly increase exceeding 1 percent. In contrast to the three previous months, however, prices did not rise in all six metropolitan markets surveyed.

Prices rose 2.3 percent in Calgary, 1.7 percent in Toronto, 1.0 percent in Ottawa, 0.9 percent in Vancouver and 0.5 percent in Montreal, while declining 0.9 percent in Halifax.

"As the numbers show, the dispersion of the monthly increases was very high," the report said. "Vancouver's July rise extended its string of consecutive monthly gains to 10, currently the longest run of monthly rises among the markets covered."

In five of the six metropolitan areas, prices were at record highs.

Overall prices were up 5.3 percent from a year earlier.

The index tracks home prices over time for repeat sales, so properties with at least two sales are required in the calculations. The report did not provide actual prices.