Canadian home prices in August were down 3.4% from their pre-correction peak of August 2008, 12 months earlier, according to the Teranet-National Bank National Composite House Price Index. It was the eighth consecutive 12-month decline, but the 12-month decline has been diminishing steadily since it peaked at 6.9% in May. The reason is that August is the fourth straight month in which the index reading for Canada as a whole has been up from the month before. The August rise of 2.0% was particularly vigorous. It was the second month in a row in which prices were up from the month before in all six of the metropolitan markets represented in the index. This turnaround is consistent with an improvement in market conditions in the first half of 2009 - more homes have been selling and fewer have been coming on the market.

MP: Canadian home prices have now increased in each of the last four months (May, June, July, Aug.) after falling for 8 consecutive months starting in September 2008, and this marks the first four-month increase in a year, and the largest four-mon