Canadian home prices rise in November, beating seasonal trend

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian home prices rose in November, which is often a slow month for the market, led by gains for Quebec City and Vancouver, data showed on Wednesday.

The Teranet-National Bank Composite House Price Index, which measures changes for repeat sales of single-family homes, showed prices rose 0.2% last month from October.

It was a "good showing" for November, said Marc Pinsonneault, a senior economist at National Bank of Canada.

The index has declined in seven of the past 10 Novembers, Pinsonneault said.

Six of the 11 metropolitan areas in the index showed increases, led by a 1% rise for Quebec City. Vancouver rose for the second straight month, up 0.4%, while Hamilton, Ontario, also climbed 0.4%.

The Bank of Canada, which has left interest rates on hold this year despite easing by some global peers, has pointed to housing activity as a source of resilience in the Canadian economy.

Compared with the same month a year ago, the composite index gained 1.4%, which was the fourth straight month that the year-over-year increase accelerated.

The year-over-year gain was led by the capital region of Ottawa-Gatineau, which was up 8.1%. Montreal rose 6.4%.

(Reporting by Fergal Smith; Editing by Peter Cooney)