New home prices in Canada edged up 0.1 percent in April from March despite a second consecutive month of declines in Calgary, capital of the country's struggling energy sector, Statistics Canada said on Thursday. The increase matched analysts' expectations. Compared with April 2014, prices rose 1.1 percent, the slowest year-on-year pace of growth since February 2010.
Canada's housing market has boomed since the financial crisis, partly fuelled by low interest rates. Policymakers play down the chances of a bubble and say they expect a soft landing for the sector. Prices in the combined region of Toronto and Oshawa, which makes up 28.8 percent of the Canadian market, grew 0.2 percent. In Calgary, which accounts for 13.5 percent of the market, prices fell 0.4 percent for a second month in a row. Some builders cut prices to stimulate sales as a slump in crude prices has depressed the market.