Hamilton housing market bucks Canadian cooling trend

Though many Canadian housing markets are starting to cool off, prices continue to rise in Hamilton, according to a new survey released Wednesday.

According to the the Teranet-National Bank National composite house price index, housing prices rose 0.4 per cent in Hamilton in October compared to September.

The city's 12-month gain also exceeded the national average at 7.2 per cent — second only to Halifax at 8.9 per cent.

Toronto (6.4 per cent) and Winnipeg (5.9 per cent) also exceeded the national average.

The index indicates that house prices were up an average of 3.4 per cent across Canada in October compared with a year ago.

However, the index also showed an 11th consecutive month of deceleration in year-to-year price increases and a drop in average prices from September levels.

The composite index was down 0.2 per cent from September — only the third time in 13 years of data that there was a month-to-month decline in October, Teranet said on its website.

The index also declined between September and October 2008, just before a major recession was sparked by a crisis in the U.S. financial industry.

Several industry groups have noted a moderation in housing sales since the federal government began tightening mortgage eligibility rules. The most recent change, in July, reduced amortization periods to 25 years from 30.

The index is estimated by tracking observed or registered home prices over time using data collected from public land registries.

All dwellings that have been sold at least twice are considered in the calculation.