StatsCan said prices were up month over month in 10 of the 27 metropolitan areas surveyed. Prices were down in one area (Montreal) and flat everywhere else.
Regina saw the largest monthly gain (1.7 percent), followed by Calgary (1.6 percent) and Ottawa (1.5 percent).
On a year-over-year basis, new home prices were up 9.4 percent in April, which is the smallest rise in national prices since March 2021, StatsCan said.
Winnipeg led the way with a 21.9 percent increase. Calgary ranked second once again at 21.7 percent, and prices in the Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo area were up 19 percent.
Rising new home prices come amid record levels of residential construction activity in the first quarter of 2022 and the fourth quarter of 2021, StatsCan said.
“This rise in construction activity had impacts on construction costs, pushing up the prices of new homes,” it noted, pointing to lumber prices and labour shortages as the key drivers of construction costs.
