Home prices in Vancouver have dropped for the second month in a row, declining by 1.3% month-over-month in November, according to the Teranet-National Bank Composite House Price Index.
The two months of dips follow 21 consecutive months of price increases.
“It really does look like Vancouver’s housing bubble has burst,” David Madani, a senior Canada economist at Capital Economics, wrote in a note.
Prices are still up by 19.3% in year-over-year terms, according to Wednesday’s data. At the same time, home sales have dropped by 43%, which will most likely put some downward pressure on prices going forward, according to data cited by Madani.
The overall annual house-price inflation in Canada rose to 11.9% last month, up from 11.8% in October.
This was due at least in part to Toronto, which saw home prices rise for the 10th straight month - by 1.1% month-over-month and by 18.5% year-over-year.
"Overall, the rate of national house price inflation will remain high in the near term, but only because of the speculative craze that is bolstering sales in Toronto's hot housing market," he argued in a note. "But even that boom might not last, especially if mortgage rates rise in step with a further surge in sovereign bond yields."
The Canadian dollar is little changed at 1.3134 per US dollar as of 12:13 p.m. ET.
