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But when it comes to actual housing prices, signs of a recovery are not visible at the national level where the actual average housing price in June 2018 at $496,000 was 1.3 per cent lower than the average price a year ago. And this decline is before the prices are adjusted for inflation. Compared to May 2018, average housing prices barely rose by 0.3 per cent.

Hardly a hot market, at least at the national level.

CREA also publishes a home price index (HPI) that accounts for seasonal changes over time. Also, it accounts for the difference in housing types and sizes that may be active at one point in time but not the other. CREA’s HPI thus presents the change in housing prices of similar or identical housing stock over time.

The HPI for June 2018 also presents a conflicting picture where the index was modestly up by 0.9 per cent since June 2017 but down by 0.13 per cent relative to May 2018.

While the recent returns in housing markets are not stellar, a long-term view would suggest that housing markets in Canada have performed well where the HPI has been up 46 per cent since June 2013.

Hiding under the national averages are the peaks and troughs of local housing markets. Urban markets in B.C. report strong gains in prices year-over-year, whereas markets in Saskatchewan and the greater Toronto area report declines.

The HPI in greater Vancouver is up by 9.5 per cent over the past year. The strongest gains though came in the Fraser Valley, with an 18.4 per cent increase over the past 12 months. Prices in Vancouver Island followed with a 16.5 per cent increase.