BRITISH COLUMBIA – Canadian prices, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), rose 1.9 per cent on a year-over-year basis in November, down from a 2.0 per cent increase in October.
Month-over-month, on a seasonally adjusted basis, CPI increased by 0.1 points in November. Excluding gasoline, the CPI was unchanged at 2.0 per cent in November. Overall shelter price growth continues to cool, as mortgage interest costs were up 13.2 per cent, marking the fifteenth consecutive month of deceleration. Conversely, rent was up 7.7 per cent in November year-over-year, up from 7.3 per cent in October.
In spite of accelerating rent price growth, total shelter costs rose 4.6 per cent in November, down from 4.8 per cent in October. In BC, consumer prices rose 2.3 per cent year-over-year, down from 2.4 per cent in October.
The Bank of Canada’s preferred measures of median and trimmed inflation, which strip out volatile components, remained unchanged at 2.6 and 2.7 per cent year-over-year, respectively.
Canada’s CPI report for November marks a stabilization around the midpoint of the Bank of Canada’s inflation target range. With CPI ex-gasoline remaining relatively steady, November’s headline CPI is likely driven by tailwinds from Black Friday and other related sales which partially accounted for lower prices and higher consumption across several sub-sectors.
In spite of this stimulus, many of the special aggregate CPIs published by Statistics Canada remained either unchanged or slightly decelerated, indicating lingering weaknesses in consumer spending. Moving into the new year, the Bank has emphasized concerns of decelerating inflation as much as movement in the opposite direction.
Given our trade uncertainties with the incoming American administration, coupled with an underperforming economy, the Bank will monitor the last monthly GDP report of 2024 to set the stage for their agenda heading into 2025, namely, the speed and depth at which they continue cutting the overnight rate.
Source: bcrea.bc.ca
