Ottawa, Ontario, January 10, 2006--The price of new housing rose 0.5 per cent in November in Canada on a "steady" market that saw higher building material and labor costs, Statistics Canada said Tuesday.
The agency said its new-housing price index, which measures the cost of housing using the year 1997 to set a benchmark of 100 points, rose 0.5 per cent, compared with a 0.7 per cent increase in October.
For November, the index stood at 132.4, the agency said. On a 12-month basis, prices were up 5.5 per cent in November, compared with 5.4 per cent in October.
Twelve of 21 metropolitan areas surveyed posted monthly gains, Statistics Canada said.
Calgary saw prices increase 3.5 per cent, mainly due to higher costs for drywall, flooring, lumber and excavation and higher lot values.
The St. Catharines-Niagara region and Kitchener in Ontario both saw gains of 1.1 per cent. Prices in Edmonton were up 0.8 per cent and in Quebec City up 0.7 per cent, also on increases in material and labor costs.
Monthly increases were also seen in Saint John, Fredericton and Moncton in New Brunswick; Montreal; London, Sudbury and Thunder Bay in Ontario; Winnipeg; Vancouver and Victoria.
Ottawa-Gatineau and Hamilton saw the only decrease in new housing prices, down 0.4 per cent and 0.2 per cent, respectively.
Building permits drop 5.7 per cent in November, below $5B for first time since July
