OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says its new housing price index rose 0.2 per cent in July, following an identical increase the previous month.

The agency says the combined metropolitan region of Toronto and Oshawa as well as the Calgary region were the top contributors to the increase.

The largest local monthly price advance in July, 0.7 per cent, came in St John’s, N.L., where builders cited an increase in land development costs as the primary reason for higher prices.

Prices rose 0.4 per cent in Halifax and in the St. Catharines–Niagara region as a result of higher material and labour costs in each region.

Prices decreased 0.3 per cent in the combined region of Sudbury and Thunder Bay in Ontario as builders reported lower land prices.

Prices were unchanged in 5 of the 21 metropolitan areas surveyed.