Statistics Canada reported Friday that new home prices in Metro Vancouver rose in May, showing further indication that the region's housing market is starting to recover.
Prices of new homes rose 0.4% in May compared with a 1.2% decline April.
Metro Vancouver was one of seven regions to realize price increases in May. Others included Quebec City (0.5%), Kitchener (0.4%), Charlottetown (0.4%), Winnipeg (0.3%), Montreal (0.2%), Saint John, Fredericton and Moncton (0.1%).
Prices remained flat in nine urban regions, including Calgary, Regina, Ottawa and Halifax.
Nationally, however, housing prices fell for an eighth consecutive month (-0.1%) overall, mainly due to declines in Hamilton (-1.1%), Saskatoon (-1.2%), Edmonton (-0.9%), Victoria (-0.3%) and Toronto (-0.3%).
StatsCan said builders in Saskatoon lowed prices to be more competitive and encourage sales while also dealing with lower materials and labour costs. In Hamilton, several builders offered free upgrades, incentives and cash bonuses to increase sales in a difficult market.
New home prices have fallen for months in Victoria, but the rate of decline has slowed recently from a 0.9% drop in March to a 0.3% decline in May.
For the year, Victoria prices are down 6.7% from May 2008 prices. Vancouver's new home prices have fallen 8.3% year-over-year, making it more affordable for people to buy a new home.
The BC Real Estate Association reported recently that residential home sales in the province rose 3% in May, the first year-over-year increase since December 2007. May posted the highest number of residential sales since April 2008 and was the fourth consecutive month of rising home sales.