Calgary Contributes to Price Index Increase

Calgary is one of three cities attributed with contributing to the 0.3 per cent New Housing Price Index (NHPI) in May compared to April.

"The metropolitan regions of Toronto and Oshawa, and Calgary were the top contributors to the increase in May," said a report by Statistics Canada. "The impact of these regions on the overall index was slightly offset by the decrease observed in Victoria." Calgary's NHPI, not seasonally adjusted, increased by 0.3 per cent from April to May this year, an increase of 0.8 per cent year-over-year compared to May 2011. The largest year-over-year increases in Canada were Toronto and Oshawa (5.5%), Winnipeg (4.4%) and Regina (4.3%) while the largest year-over-year declines was reported by Victoria at -3.2 per cent.

In Calgary, CREB® reported the single-family benchmark price for the month of May was $427,500, a 6.7 per cent increase over the same time last year. However, May's benchmark price is still 5.3 per cent below the peak price of $451,400 reached in July 2007.

"While there have been some conflicting opinions on the national housing market, particularly with expectations, the Calgary housing market does not appear to reflect either a boom or a bust scenario, and is simply returning to activity levels consistent with a normal market," said Ann-Marie Lurie, CREB® economist.