The Teranet – National Bank House Price Index, which tracks property values of homes sold at least twice in six major Canadian cities, showed prices were up 1.69% in June from a month earlier, and up 4.52% from June 2010. The index is now at a new high of 144.67. The index mark of 100 began in June 2005, tracking price changes since that point.

All six markets covered rose month-over-month for the second consecutive month. And in all six markets, the rise was at least 1% or more.
The only exception was Calgary at 156.25, where home resale prices were down 2.7% compared to a year ago. “The Calgary index is still 10.9% off the all-time high of August 2007 and 3.1% off the pre-correction peak of August 2010,” said the report.

The largest monthly rise was in Toronto, up 2% to reach 131.26. Vancouver, with the highest index level of 167.77, was up the highest since last year, rising 7.2%. Vancouver has risen for nine consecutive months – the longest run among markets covered, according to Teranet.

While home prices were up, Statistics Canada reported yesterday that the national economy shrank 0.4% annualized in the second quarter, marking the first contraction since mid-2009.