By Robb M. Stewart

OTTAWA–New-home buyers in Canada saw a dip in house prices last month, a further sign the market was steadying following the rebound this year.
Statistics Canada’s new-house price index edged down 0.1% in July from the month before, after notching growth the previous two months.

From a year earlier, prices for the month were 0.9% lower, the data agency said Monday.
Sales of existing homes also slipped in July after showing signs of leveling off since May, falling 0.7% from the prior month thanks to a decline in Toronto, data released last week by the Canadian Real Estate Association showed. Still, benchmark existing house prices, calculated in a similar fashion to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index, were up 1.1% from June, and are now only 1.8% below year-ago levels.
The Bank of Canada lifted its key policy rate in June and July, ending a brief pause to take it to a 22-year high of 5%. Policymakers next decide on rates in September and have said they will rely on incoming data to determine whether rates need to rise further.
Statistics Canada said prices for new homes were down in eight of the 27 metropolitan areas surveyed, unchanged in 12 areas and up in seven. Prices fell by the most in the western Canadian city of Victoria, followed by the greater Sudbury region in Ontario and the national capital Ottawa, with building noting weakened market conditions following the central bank’s decision in July to raise rates a further one-quarter percentage point.
The new-house price data from Statistics Canada covers single-dwelling, semi-detached and row houses. It doesn’t incorporate prices for newly built condominium units.
Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com