Growth in new house prices slowed slightly for an eleventh straight month in July, as contractors' prices rose by 7.7 per cent year-over-year, Statistics Canada said.

In June, the 12-month price increase came in at 7.8 per cent.

Price growth has been decelerating since August 2006 when the year-over-year rate of growth peaked at 12.1 per cent.

On a monthly basis, prices increased by 0.9 per cent from June to July, Statistics Canada said in a report released Tuesday.

Saskatchewan saw the some of the biggest price increases in the country in July.

Prices in Saskatoon set a record high year-over-year increase for the fifth consecutive month with a rise of 51.4 per cent. Regina also registered a record 12-month increase of 23 per cent.

New house prices in Edmonton recorded a year-over-year increase of 38.4 per cent. A cooling trend continued in Calgary, where the year-over-year increase was only 9.8 per cent, the slowest gain in almost two years.

While new home prices showed slower growth in July, new home starts in August were up, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said in a separate monthly report released Tuesday.

CMHC said the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts was 226,500 units in August, up from 215,600 units in July.

"The rise in August housing starts reflects a rebound in the volatile multiple starts segment," said Bob Dugan, chief economist at CMHC’s market analysis centre.

"In particular, the strong results achieved this past month can be attributed to multiple starts in the Atlantic region, British Columbia and the Prairies," Dugan said. "Despite the increase in August, the pace of housing starts remains consistent with our view that residential construction will decrease gradually between now and the end of 2008."

CMHC said starts of urban single homes were up 1.8 per cent to 91,300 units in August, while multiple starts, such as condominiums, increased 10.1 per cent to 101,400 units.