OTTAWA— Resale home prices rose 1.5% in June, the largest monthly gain since last August and the fourteenth straight monthly increase, according to the Teranet-National Bank house price index, released Wednesday.

On an annual basis, prices were up 13.6%, driven higher by gains in Vancouver, up 16.3%, and Toronto, up 16.2%.

The monthly advance comes after resale home prices rose 1.3% in May, 0.8% in April and 0.3% in March.

But the report stated that series of gains may be about to stall.

“We do not believe that acceleration in the Teranet-National Bank index will be sustained,” said Marc Pinsonneault, economist with National Bank Financial.

“The number of existing homes sold has declined in each of the four months ending last July, and it did so to a proportionally larger extent than the number of new listings,”he said.

“At the national level, the market is now at the boundary between balanced conditions and conditions favourable to buyers. This heralds a deceleration in home price inflation, especially since a harmonized sales tax was introduced on July 1 in Ontario and B.C.”

For June, prices rose 2.7% in Ottawa, 2.4% in Toronto, 1.4% in Montreal, 1.3% in Halifax, 0.8% in Vancouver and 0.2% in Calgary.

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