New Housing Price Report (NHPR)

Data are collected under the authority of the Statistics Act, Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985, Chapter S-19.

By law, Statistics Canada is prohibited from releasing any information it collects that could identify any person, business, or organization, unless consent has been given by the respondent, or as permitted by the Statistics Act. Statistics Canada will use the information from this survey for statistical purposes only.

Data sharing agreements

To reduce response burden, Statistics Canada has entered into data sharing agreements with provincial and territorial statistical agencies and other government organizations, which have agreed to keep the data confidential and use them for statistical purposes only. Statistics Canada will share data from this survey only with those organizations that have demonstrated a requirement to use the data.

Section 11 of the Statistics Act provides for the sharing of information with provincial and territorial statistical agencies that meet certain conditions. These agencies must have the legislative authority to collect the same information, on a mandatory basis, and the legislation must include substantially the same provisions for confidentiality and penalties for disclosure of confidential information as the Statistics Act. Because these agencies have the legal authority to compel businesses to provide the same information, consent is not requested and businesses may not object to the sharing of the data.

For this survey, there are Section 11 agreements, with the provincial statistical agencies of Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia. The data shared will be limited to information pertaining to business establishments located within the jurisdiction of the respective province.

Section 12 of the Statistics Act provides for the sharing of information with federal, provincial or territorial government organizations. Under Section 12, you may refuse to share your information with any of these organizations by writing a letter of objection to the Chief Statistician, specifying the organizations with which you do not want Statistics Canada to share your data and mailing it to the following address:

Chief Statistician of Canada
Statistics Canada
Attention of Director, Enterprise Statistics Division
150 Tunney's Pasture Driveway
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0T6

You may also contact us by email, at statcan.esdhelpdesk-dsebureaudedepannage.statcan@statcan.gc.ca, or by fax, at 613-951-6583.

For this survey, there are Section 12 agreements with the Prince Edward Island statistical agency.

For agreements with provincial government organizations, the data shared will be limited to information pertaining to business establishments located within the jurisdiction of the respective province.

Record linkage

To enhance the data from this survey and reduce response burden, Statistics Canada may combine the information you provide with data from other surveys or administrative sources.

The survey asks questions about

• new housing price (structure and land);
• characteristics of home;
• living area;
• lot specifications;
• reasons for price changes;
• associated dollar amounts.

Statistics Canada publishes the results of its surveys in many formats. To find all the documents related to this survey, follow the links below and type the name of the survey in the search engine located at the left of your screen to filter the results.

Data: You will find tables, profiles of a community or region, thematic maps, public use microdata files, and data visualization tools.

Analysis: You will have direct access to Stats in brief (e.g., releases from The Daily, fact sheets), articles and reports, and journals and periodicals.

• What is the purpose of the New Housing Price Index?
• Who is surveyed?
• Why was my company selected for this survey?
• Why are condos not included in this survey?
• I have calculated that house prices have increased more than the New Housing Price Index shows. Could you explain the discrepancy?
• Who will use the survey results? Why is it important?
• When will the survey results be available?
• Where can I find more information about this survey?

What is the purpose of the New Housing Price Index?

The New Housing Price Index measures changes over time in the contractors' selling prices of new residential houses, where detailed specifications pertaining to each house remain the same between two consecutive periods. The prices collected from builders and included in the index are market selling prices less value added taxes such as the GST and HST.

Who is surveyed?

For the New Housing Price Index the universe consists of builders in 21 metropolitan areas who mainly build single unit houses in such volume or in such a fashion that they can report selling prices for comparable transactions.

Why was my company selected for this survey?

The sample of builders for each metropolitan area is now chosen according to their importance in the market, determined by building permit values. Prices are usually collected from builders who develop entire subdivisions, usually on large tracts of land. However, builders producing fewer units can also be included where comparable models can be priced over a period of time. The sample for a given builder is structured in such a way that the price changes of the sample are representative of the price changes of the builder's total sales of housing units.

Why are condos not included in this survey?

This category of new housing is currently not covered in our methodology and in our sample. Even though some components such as labour and building materials are very similar, most materials used to build the structure of the condos, the construction methods and the equipment used are different than those used for building singles, row or semi-detached homes.

In the current New Housing Price Index methodology, we ask builders to provide us with the total prices of the house. This selling price encompasses the cost of the structure, land and services to land. In addition to this total price, builders are asked to give a current cost estimate for the lot. An estimate of the cost of the structure is obtained residually by subtracting the estimated land cost from the reported selling price. Since many condos can be built on the same lot, our actual methodology could not be applied to condos.

We are currently examining the possibility and feasibility of adding this type of dwelling structure to the New Housing Price Index, either by integrating it to the current survey or by creating a separate index.

I have calculated that house prices have increased more than the New Housing Price Index shows. Could you explain the discrepancy?

The New Housing Price Index is an index that measures variations in time of prices of new residential houses only. It does not reflect the variation in prices of resale houses. Also the New Housing Price Index is quality adjusted. These adjustments are performed to ensure that the index measures only what we call pure price change. This is price change that is only associated with increases that are not generated by changes in the quality of the new structures being priced. For example there is often a tendency over the years to build larger more deluxe homes than before. The size (square metres) and features like ceramic entries, whirlpool baths, etc. tend to grow over time. If someone was looking at average prices these changes would have a tendency to make the average prices go up as the larger size and extra features have to be paid for. However, the New Housing Price Index attempts to retain a constant quality through time, so these changes attributed to specification changes are edited out. This difference in approach could account for some of the differences that might be observed in the movement of average prices versus movement exhibited by the New Housing Price Index. The New Housing Price Index is used as an input into the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and is also used in the System of National Account to deflate Gross Fixed Capital Formation and this is the reason why the New Housing Price Index was designed to measure pure price change and to exclude changes associated with changes to the quality of housing stock.

Who will use the survey results? Why is it important?

Statistics Canada's business surveys provide both the private and public sectors with vital information that is used in decision making processes. Many businesses and organizations need accurate information to track growth and changes in this industry.

• The New Housing Price Index is used by housing economists, universities and the general public to track and comprehend events and trends in this important component of the construction sector.
• Within Statistics Canada, components of these series are used in the calculation of some elements of the CPI. The CPI, in turn, is used by the Bank of Canada to set interest rates, which are then used by banks to set mortgage rates. In addition, the series is used by the Canadian System of National Accounts in deflating the value of the national housing stock.
• Due to the level of geographic detail provided and the sensitivity to changes in supply and demand, the New Housing Price Index series are of particular interest to the real estate industry for comparison with changes in values of houses sold in the resale market.
• The information provided by the New Housing Price Index is also useful to building contractors, market analysts interested in housing policy, suppliers and manufacturers of building products, insurance companies, federal government agencies such as Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, and provincial and municipal housing agencies responsible for housing policy.

When will the survey results be available?

Survey results are published in The Daily approximately 50 days after the survey is completed.

Consult Published data for data and analysis from the New Housing Price Index.

Where can I find more information about this survey?

Contact us if you have any questions about the survey.