Sep 8, 2011, Calgary region new home prices drop

The Calgary region bucked a national trend for new home prices in July.

Across the country, the New Housing Price Index, released by Statistics Canada on Thursday, rose during the month but it dropped in the Calgary census metropolitan area.

The federal agency said new home prices fell by 0.5 per cent in the Calgary CMA from June and by 0.8 per cent year-over-year.

At the national level, the NHPI rose 0.1 per cent in July from the previous month and was up 2.3 per cent from July 2010.

Between June and July, Charlottetown (1.3 per cent) posted the largest increase followed by Toronto and Oshawa (0.4 per cent), said Statistics Canada.

“The most significant monthly price decline was recorded in Calgary (0.5 per cent), as some builders offered free upgrade packages and promotional pricing to generate sales,” said the federal agency.

The largest year-over-year price increase was in Toronto and Oshawa (5.2 per cent) followed by Winnipeg (4.3 per cent).

By Mario Toneguzzi