National home prices continued to rise in February, but the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) said Friday that evidence pointed to a market that was “topping out.”
That wording differs from a Re/Max report also this week that predicted a “heated” spring market nationally, with demand continuing to push sales and prices upwards, as bidding wars are still present in various cities.
The CREA’s MLS Home Price Index (HPI) was up 5.1% in February compared to a year earlier. The increase was the smallest since last June, and was the fourth straight month that price gains had slowed.
“MLS HPI trends for February show that home price growth is generally slowing,” said Gary Morse, CREA President. “At the same time, price gains and trends differ among housing markets tracked by the index.”
The largest gain was in Toronto, up 7.3% from levels in February 2011.
Vancouver was not far behind, up 6%, followed by 5.5% in the Lower Mainland.
All cities covered in the index were up, although Montreal posted the smallest gains, up 1.6% from a year ago, and Calgary was up the next lowest, 2.5%.
By home category, two-storey single family homes were up the most, gaining 6.9% from a year ago. It was also the only home category that showed an increase in the percentage gain from recent previous months.
Source: Real Estate Wealth
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