The housing market appears to have put the brakes on in June, and prices in Southern Ontario look to have been the main culprit, according to new figures released Thursday by Statistics Canada.
In June, the agency says, new house prices in Southern Ontario paused from their recent upward climb, curbing the national increase at 0.2%. This was down from a 0.8% increase in April and a 0.7% gain in May.
Toronto recorded no change in new home prices in June. The same dynamic was observed in a number of neighbouring census metropolitan areas (CMAs), with only St. Catharines-Niagara, picking up 0.1%, and Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo (also up 0.1%) reporting minimal price increases.
These results follow the introduction of the Fair Housing Plan by the Wynne government in Ontario during April. The plan included the 15% Non-Resident Speculation Tax, as well as other measures aimed at cooling the housing market in Ontario.
Vancouver (+1.5%) and Ottawa-Gatineau, Ontario part (+0.9%) were the top contributors to the national gain. This was the largest increase in Ottawa-Gatineau, Ontario part since April 2011. Builders in both metropolitan areas cited improving market conditions as the main reason for the increase.
The nation’s number crunchers also announced new house prices in Canada rose 3.9% over the 12-month period ending in June, led by Toronto (+8.5%). Other notable year-over-year price increases were observed in Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo (+6.5%), London (+6.4%), Vancouver (+6.2%) and St. Catharines–Niagara (+6.0%).
Declines were recorded for five metropolitan areas, with St. John's (-0.9%) posting the largest decrease.
