Canada’s annual rate of inflation stayed steady in June, the third month in a row it has remained unchanged.

Consumer prices rose by 2.2% in June compared with June 2006, identical to the increases in both April and May, Statistics Canada said today.

For a third straight month, increased costs of home ownership pushed up the annual inflation rate, StatsCan said. The overall cost of home ownership was up 4.9%.

The cost of operating a vehicle also rose, climbing 2.8%.

StatsCan said a 17% drop in prices for computer equipment and supplies took out some of the sting of rising costs.

The Bank of Canada’s core inflation index rose 2.5% in June — faster than the 2.2% increase observed in May — again, mainly because of the rise in homeowners’ replacement costs.

The core index, which strips out several volatile factors, is used by the Bank of Canada to monitor the inflation control target. Increases in this index have exceeded 2% for the past year.

Rising home ownership costs accounted for most of the increase in the annual inflation for a third consecutive month. Mortgage interest cost were the biggest contributor, rising 5.7%, the same growth rate as in May and April. It was the fastest rate of growth since January 2001.

Homeowners’ replacement costs, which represents the worn-out structural portion of housing and is estimated using new housing prices excluding land, rose by 6.1% between June 2006 and June 2007. This was up slightly from the 6% annual increase observed in May.

Drivers paid more for gasoline but the increase was not as pronounced as it was in May. The 12-month increase in pump prices in June was 1.7%, compared with a 5.8% increase for May 2006 to May 2007.