The average price of a new home is on different tracks in Calgary and Edmonton.*

Despite a 0.8% increase in January, the average price of a new home in Edmonton fell in all four quarters last year for an annual decrease of 1.8% compared to 2022.

It was the opposite in Calgary with the average price slipping by 0.2% in January, but posting a rise in all four quarters last year for an annual increase of 3.1%.

Taking a longer view, the average price of a new home in Edmonton was 9% higher last year than in 2019 versus 29% higher in Calgary.

As the chart below illustrates, the price growth has taken place since the onset of the pandemic.

Of the 27 cities for which data are available, 10 saw the average price rise last year and 17 saw it fall. At +3.5%, only Québec posted a larger annual increase than Calgary’s +3.1%.

Victoria posted the largest annual decrease at -2.8% followed by Edmonton’s -1.8%.

The average price in two of Canada’s highest-priced and most-watched markets were both down slightly on the year at -0.3% in Toronto and -0.2% in Vancouver.

The average price was higher last year than in 2019 across all 27 cities with the national index 21% higher. Ottawa (not including Gatineau) saw the largest rise in the average price at +50% followed by the Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo region at +49%.

*Statistics Canada’s New Housing Price Index is a monthly series that measures changes over time in the builders' selling prices of new residential houses, where detailed specifications pertaining to each house remain the same between two consecutive periods. The index only measures prices in 27 cities (including Calgary and Edmonton in the case of Alberta) so province-wide and national numbers do not include areas outside these 27 centres. 

Answer to the previous trivia question: People born before 1928 (aged 95 years or older on July 1, 2023) are known as the greatest generation.

Today’s trivia question: Which fictional creatures created by J.R.R. Tolkien mark 30 days in the month of February instead of the 28 days (29 during leap years) used in the Gregorian calendar?