September 2024 New Housing Price Index Shows Stability in Ontario

The New Housing Price Index (NHPI) for September 2024 has been released, showing no change in the overall index for Canada compared to the previous month. The index measures changes in the selling prices of new residential houses, excluding value-added taxes like the federal goods and services tax and the provincial harmonized sales tax.

In Ontario, the NHPI remained unchanged from August 2024, indicating stability in new housing prices within the province. This trend is consistent with the national average, which also reported a 0.0% change month-over-month.

The report highlights that the largest year-over-year increases in new home prices were observed in Calgary with a 4.3% rise, and Trois-Rivières with a 3.1% increase. Conversely, Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo experienced the largest decline, with a 2.8% drop in new home prices, followed by Ottawa with a 2.6% decrease.

The Bank of Canada's recent decision to lower the policy interest rate to 4.25% from 5.0% in September 2023 has reduced borrowing costs for home buyers, potentially impacting housing market dynamics. The NHPI data is sourced from Statistics Canada's Table 18-10-0205-01.