Calgary home prices edge up slightly but remain 4.6% below last year's level: CREA

Home prices in Calgary increased slightly in Aprilafter 10 previous months of declines, according to new numbers from the Canadian Real Estate Association.

Calgary's home price index a measure of the "benchmark" price ofa typical home sold in the citygrew to $411,100.

That's a 0.4-per-cent increase from March.

On ayear-over-year basis, however, prices were still down in Calgary something the association said is common across major markets in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

"Benchmark prices were down by 4.6 per cent in Calgary, 4.0per cent in Edmonton, 4.3 per cent in Regina and 1.7 per centin Saskatoon," CREA said in a release.

• Calgary sees largest decline in house prices of 11 major Canadian cities in March

"The home pricing environment will likely remain weak in these cities until demand and supply return to better balance."

Price growth was stronger in other parts of the country, with the national, aggregate index jumping by 0.7 per cent on a month-over-month basis.

Calgary's housing peak came back in January 2015, according to theCREA data.

At that time, the price for a benchmark home in the city hit $455,500, which was 109.4 per cent higher than a decade earlier.

"A 'benchmark home' is one whose attributes are typical of homes traded in the area where it is located," CREA says in an explanation of its home price index methodology.

This measure differs from the median or average sale price of a home, which the association says usually varies more widely depending on the mix of price ranges of the homes that happen to sell in a given month.