Prices of resale homes edged up in Canada last month, but at a more moderate pace, signalling further cooling in the once red-hot sector, the Canadian Real Estate Association said Thursday.

The average price of a resale home in Canada's major markets was $329,383 in March (up from $327,477 in February and $325,183 in January). That leaves the average sale price up 4.0 per cent from March of last year.

For the first three months of the year, average prices realized through MLS sales were up 5.5 per cent from the first quarter of 2007. That's the smallest year-over-year price increase in seven years.

CREA figures show that overall sales fell last month by 18.7 per cent from a year earlier, while new listings grew in the first quarter.

"Many major markets are becoming more balanced and price gains are becoming more modest as a result," said CREA chief economist Gregory Klump in a release.

"This trend is forecast to continue as rising mortgage carrying costs and property taxes erode affordability," he said.

Housing boom 'officially over'

CREA president Cal Lindberg said the days of constantly setting price records are over. Economists agreed. "Canada’s six-year housing market boom is officially over," declared Doug Porter of BMO Capital Markets.

Still, the latest figures show that five major markets managed to set price records in March — Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Hamilton-Burlington, Ottawa and Halifax.

As usual, the most expensive real estate could be found in Greater Vancouver, where the average resale last month cost $616,496, up 11.1 per cent in a year.

The next most expensive markets were:

  • Victoria ($504,194, up 13.3 per cent)
  • Calgary ($419,396, up 1.0 per cent)
  • Toronto ($380,338, up 4.1 per cent)
  • Edmonton (343,760, up 5.6 per cent)

The cooling trend in Canada still stands out from the situation south of the border, where average house prices have fallen 10 per cent in the past year amid a meltdown in the U.S. subprime mortgage market.

Not a single major Canadian market that CREA tracks reported lower year-over-year prices in the first quarter.