Average house price up 6% to $433,649 in September, CREA says

The average selling price of a Canadian home was $433,649 in September, the Canadian Real Estate Association said today.

The figure increased by 6.1 per cent from the same month a year ago. That's the lowest annual gain we've seen in seven months. "Overall, September's housing markets stats are consistent with a continued hot housing market – it just doesn't appear to be getting any hotter," TD Bank economist Diana Petramala said after the numbers came out.

As has been the case for a while, activity in Toronto and Vancouver is skewing the average higher, CREA said. Stripping out the two cities, the average drops to $334,705 and the gain is 2.9 per cent.

Indeed, prices aren't moving up everywhere, or at the same pace. Home prices rose from September 2014 levels by about 1.5 per cent in Greater Montreal, and by about 2.5 per cent in Greater Moncton. Prices fell by four per cent in Regina, where they have been dropping since 2013.

For the second consecutive month, prices in Calgary were flat on a year-over-year basis. Prices in Saskatoon and Ottawa were also about the same level as they were a year ago.

Beyond prices, sales were also stronger. The number of homes sold during September was the second highest on record for the month, falling just 130 purchases shy of the record set in 2009.

"Sales are off the peak reached earlier this year, but are still running strong, particularly in British Columbia and Ontario," CREA president Pauline Aunger said.