A federal government report says prices of new single-family homes across the Canada rose 5.4 percent year over year in January 2021.

According to Statistics Canada, this was the “largest increase in over a decade (since March 2008)”.

The agency’s definition of single-family home includes single-detached, semis, and row houses.

Statistics Canada’s report Thursday (February 18) also provides a breakdown of what is happening in its census metropolitan areas or CMAs.

The Vancouver CMA covers Lions Bay to Langley and every place in between.

This Lower Mainland region of B.C. saw the price of newly constructed single-family homes rise 6.7 percent in January 2021 compared to the same month last year.

In the Victoria CMA, the year over year increase was 5.9 percent.

The Kelowna CMA registered an increase of 3.5 percent.

According to Statistics Canada, the national price index of new single-family homes was “up for the ninth consecutive month, linked primarily to the decreasing supply of new homes and continuing high demand”.

The demand is being “driven mainly by lower borrowing costs and consumer desire for more living space during the pandemic”.

Moreover, the “national supply for new single-family homes (single-detached, semis and row houses) has been declining in recent years”.

Statistics Canada cited Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation numbers indicating that housing completions for single-family homes in 2020 were down 2.2 percent compared with 2019.

Also, 2020 completed constructions were down 15.2 percent compared with 2018.

“While demand has remained strong as a result of homes selling quickly, completed single-family homes still available for sale in December 2020 were down by almost one-third (-29.4%) compared with December 2019,” the federal agency reported.

Nationally, the largest increase was observed in the Ottawa-Gatineau CMA of Ontario, with 15.3 percent.

Other CMAS: Toronto, four percent; Quebec, 7.7 percent; Montreal, 9.1 percent; Calgary, 0.7 percent; and Winnipeg, 4.8 percent.