Low labour costs and slow real estate market conditions sent new home prices falling for the third consecutive month, Statistics Canada reported Wednesday.
Prices for new homes fell by 0.1 per cent nationally between November and December of 2008, StatsCan said.
Cities that posted price drops included:
- Saskatoon, where new housing prices fell by 0.7 per cent on lower labour costs
- Calgary, where prices declined by 1.3 per cent
- Victoria, where prices were 0.4 per cent lower
- Edmonton, where prices fell by 0.3 per cent
Some cities posted price increases, such as Ottawa-Gatineau and St. John's, which saw prices go up 0.2 per cent.
Halifax, Hamilton, Ont. and Windsor, Ont. all saw prices go up 0.1 per cent.
New home prices remained unchanged in many cities, including Toronto and Oshawa, Ont., Montreal, Winnipeg, Regina and Vancouver.
The report also analyzed year-over-year price changes, with some cities posting double-digit increases between December 2007 and December 2008.
St. John's saw new housing prices jump 24.4 per cent compared to last year, while Regina's prices went up 21.7 per cent.
Cities such as Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa-Gatineau and Winnipeg posted single-digit gains compared to last year.
In the Prairies, Edmonton and Calgary both posted 12-month declines by 8.2 per cent and 4.3 per cent, respectively.
And on the West Coast, Vancouver declined by 2.3 per cent, while Victoria declined by 2.9 per cent.
