TORONTO -- Home prices in December returned to their all-time high of October, driven by gains in Edmonton, Vancouver and Toronto, according to the Teranet--National Bank national composite house price index.
The index was up 0.1 per cent from November, bringing the year-over-year gain to 3.8 per cent.
However despite the gain, the index was down in eight of the 11 markets looked at on a month-over-month basis.
It was the first gain for Edmonton in five months and the first gain for Toronto in four months.
December prices were down from the month before in Winnipeg, Calgary, Ottawa-Gatineau, Quebec City, Montreal, Hamilton, Halifax and Victoria.
"Vancouver was the only market whose prices reached a new high in December," Teranet-National Bank said in a statement.
"Toronto prices are almost back to their peak of last August. For Montreal and Quebec City, on the other hand, December was respectively the sixth and fifth month without a monthly increase."
It was the fourth monthly decline in a row for Ottawa-Gatineau and the third in a row for Victoria.
