The median price of a new and used vehicle in Canada increased in May, with some provinces revealing significant gains that contributed to the national boost in price, according to the autoTRADER.ca Retail Price Index report for May 2019.
“Automotive retail prices across Canada were up year-over-year for the month of May by 3.9 per cent for new cars and 4.3 per cent for used cars, outpacing the Bank of Canada’s expected CPI inflation of 2 per cent,” said autoTRADER.ca in its report.
Research is based on more than 400,000 new and used vehicle listings on the company’s website, which was used to track the median price of the vehicles by type, region and manufacturer origin.
By body type, new cars were up 5.8 per cent YOY to reach $27,555, and used cars were up 3.3 per cent for the same period, reaching a median of $15,395.
New and used SUVs also increased at $37,786 (+1.3 per cent) and $22,988 (+4.5 per cent) from a year ago, respectively. And new trucks saw an increase of 8.1 per cent to reach $53,874, while used trucks climbed only 0.3 per cent to $29,988 — all YOY.
In the provinces, Alberta experienced a decline in used car prices with a 4.6 per cent drop, YOY, due in large part to a decrease in the price of sedans. In Quebec, used car prices increased by 5.4 per cent during the same period.
“Conversely, new car prices in Alberta have increased 6.5 per cent year-over-year, largely driven by the truck segment. Moving east across the country, new car prices in Quebec have declined with a 2.1 per cent drop year-over-year, which was driven by a 4.1 per cent drop in the price of SUVs,” said autoTRADER.ca.
autoTRADER.ca Retail Price Index report for May 2019
In terms of the national median retail price by manufacturer origin, North American new cars were $48,340 (+5.3 per cent) and used cars reached $20,994 (+2.7 per cent). In Europe, new cars reached $52,409 (+7.3 per cent) and used jumped to $23,450 (+2.0). And new cars in Asia increased slightly to $30,858 (+1.0 per cent) and used cars more significantly to $16,788 (+6.4 per cent), again all YOY.
“Our data also suggests that compared to those manufactured in North America or Asia, prices of new vehicles from Europe increased the most, by 7.3 per cent year-over-year,” said autoTRADER.ca. “Prices of new cars from Asia increased by only 1 per cent, while those manufactured in North America experienced a 5.3 per cent increase, year-over-year.”
For used cars, autoTRADER.ca said prices of Asian-made vehicles increased nearly three times that of those in other markets, with an increase of 6.4 per cent YOY.
