New homes for sale are shown in Oakville, Ont. New home prices rose 6.3% in the Greater Toronto Area in 2011, according to Statistics Canada (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)

The price of a new home in Canada rose by 2.5 per cent last year, led by big jumps in Toronto and Oshawa, Ont., according to Statistics Canada.

Prices in the Greater Toronto Area rose by 6.3 per cent in 2011, followed by gains of 5.3 per cent in Regina and 4.6 per cent in Winnipeg. The cost of a new home dropped in Vancouver last year, falling by 0.3 per cent.

New home prices rose 0.1 per cent in December, following a 0.3 per cent rise in November, according to the report, released Thursday. Economists had expected a gain of 0.2 per cent.

That's the ninth straight monthly gain in the new home price index, the longest run since the middle of 2010.

Toronto, Montreal, and Oshawa were the main contributors to the rise in December.