Canadians continued to pay more for new houses in September, Statistics Canada said today.

The cost of new homes increased 5.8% year-over-year, driven higher by strong demand and rising costs for building materials.

However, September’s increase was not as big as the 6% year-over-year increase seen in August and July, and the 6.2% jump in June.

Victoria continued to post the largest 12-month increase for new homes with a jump of 8.7%, followed by Winnipeg at 8.5% and St. Catharines-Niagara area of Ontario with a rise of 8.1%.

On a month-over-month basis, housing prices were up 0.3% between August and September, a somewhat slower rate of increase than the July-August increase of 0.5%.