Rising labour and materials costs coupled with strong demand drove up the price of new homes in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. (CBC)

Contractors' selling prices for new homes increased a modest 0.2 per cent in March over February, in part owing to Alberta's cooling housing market, Statistics Canada said Monday.

Year-over-year growth slowed in March with prices increasing 6.1 per cent between March 2007 and March 2008. By comparison, year-over-year prices between February 2007 and February rose 6.2 per cent, the federal agency said.

For the 11th consecutive month, prices increased at the fastest pace in Saskatoon as year-over-year increases in March registered 46.2 per cent. In monthly comparisons, prices rose 2.1 per cent from February.

In Regina, housing prices increased 1.7 per cent in March over the previous month while year-over-year increases registered 27.8 per cent. Prices in Winnipeg climbed 15 per cent in annual comparisons. Contractors cited rising material and labour expenses as well as strong demand as reasons for the increases in Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

The 12-month growth rate in Edmonton registered 13.5 per cent in March, while the monthly rate fell 1.1 per cent, with Alberta builders describing a cooling housing market. Calgary recorded an annual growth rate of 5.3 per cent between March 2007 and March 2008.

Meanwhile, new home prices in Halifax increased at an annual rate of 12.8 per cent and 12.0 per cent in St. John's, owing to a fortifying economy coupled with rising labour and materials costs.

In Ontario, annual growth rate prices increased 4.5 per cent in Toronto and 3.1 per cent in Ottawa. Year-over-year prices also increased 4.5 per cent in Montreal and 6.1 per cent in Vancouver.

In Québec, prices increased 3.9 per cent from the same month a year earlier. In Montréal, the 12-month growth rate slowed to 4.5 per cent. Prices edged down 0.1 per cent from February to March in Montréal, where increases resulting from higher labour costs were offset by competition among builders in the market.

Prices in Windsor — which have continued to decline for 18 months — continued to drop, falling 0.6 per cent from March 2007.