National Home Price Average Skewed?

An interesting article surfaced at the National Post yesterday. It centers around the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) and its claim that, although the national average sale price of homes is falling, average prices in many individual markets are still rising.

According to the CREA, the average house price in September fell 5.4% year-over-year from September of 2007. The CREA also mentioned that in 65% of the districts it presides over, the average home price has actually risen since last September.

The CREA believes that the discrepancy between the national average and individual area averages can be attributed to the fact that Vancouver – previously Canada’s most expensive market – had year-over-year sales declines of about 40%. Therefore, it’s entirely possible that Vancouver’s numbers are skewing the national average.

Moving into the future, the CREA predicts that national average of house prices will continue to decline, even though the housing supply has decreased.