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New Home prices continue to rise, making re-sale real estate even more attractive. Wednesday, March 10, 2004 The New Housing Price Index (1997=100) rose 0.3% in January, unchanged from December's monthly increase. On a 12-month basis, this index of contractor's selling prices rose 5.1%, up slightly from December's annual increase of 5.0%. New Housing Price Indexes (1997=100)   January 2004 January 2003 to January 2004 December 2003 to January 2004     % change Canada total 119.9 5.1 0.3    House only 127.1 6.3 0.3    Land only 106.0 1.7 0.1 St.John's 114.5 3.6 -0.1 Halifax 121.1 3.5 0.0 Charlottetown 107.5 2.3 0.3 Saint John, Fredericton and Moncton 103.6 1.6 -0.1 Québec 126.9 8.1 0.6 Montréal 130.8 5.3 0.3 Ottawa-Gatineau 141.7 3.7 0.4 Toronto and Oshawa 122.8 5.4 0.2 Hamilton 123.3 4.3 0.2 St. Catharines-Niagara 124.4 5.5 0.2 Kitchener 122.4 3.6 0.2 London 117.5 5.0 -0.3 Windsor 102.1 0.0 0.0 Greater Sudbury and Thunder Bay 96.7 0.4 0.0 Winnipeg 116.4 4.1 0.0 Regina 128.5 5.7 0.0 Saskatoon 115.9 4.7 0.0 Calgary 135.3 5.8 0.1 Edmonton 127.0 4.2 0.2 Vancouver 99.0 5.1 1.4 Victoria 101.4 10.7 0.5 Monthly advances occurred in 12 of the 21 metropolitan areas. Vancouver led the way with an increase of 1.4%, partly the result of favourable market conditions and higher land values. Québec (+0.6%), Victoria (+0.5%) and Ottawa-Gatineau (+0.4%) were next. Home builders in these metropolitan areas noted higher prices for building materials, such as lumber, and labour. Higher land prices contributed to the increases in Québec and Victoria. New home prices rose in Charlottetown (+0.3%), Montréal (+0.3%), Toronto and Oshawa (+0.2%), Hamilton (+0.2%), St. Catharines-Niagara (+0.2%), Kitchener (+0.2%) and Edmonton (+0.2%). Calgary registered a slight increase of 0.1%. For the most part, increases in these metropolitan areas were due to higher prices for building materials and labour. Six metropolitan areas registered no change and monthly decreases were observed in London (-0.3%), St. John's (-0.1%) and Saint John, Fredericton and Moncton (-0.1%), mostly the result of competitive factors. Victoria (+10.7%) posted the largest 12-month increase for new homes. Québec was next with an increase of 8.1% followed by Calgary (+5.8%). There were no annual decreases. The New Housing Price Index for February will be released on April 13. Statistics Canada information is used with the permission of Statistics Canada. Users are forbidden to copy the data and redisseminate them, in an original or modified form, for commercial purposes, without the expressed permission of Statistics Canada. Information on the availability of the wide range of data from Statistics Canada can be obtained from Statistics Canada's Regional Offices, its World Wide Web site at http://www.statcan.ca, and its toll-free access number 1-800-263-1136.

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