Vancouver property price hike pushes up country average

Ottawa

A SOARING real estate market in Vancouver helped push the national average home price in Canada above the half-million dollar mark for first time in February, stoking concern that risks are becoming lopsided.

Average resale prices jumped 16 per cent in February from a year earlier to C$503,057 (S$520,779), the Canadian Real Estate Association said on Tuesday from Ottawa, as prices rose 26 per cent in Vancouver.