Housing Depreciation in the Canadian CPI

Between 1949 and 1997, the annual housing depreciation rate used in the CPI was 2%. Statistics Canada adopted the rate from a study that analysed U.S. Federal Housing Administration field appraisal data from 1939.

This study argues that there is evidence that the 2% depreciation rate is too high to continue to use in the future. Consider that: 1) other Canadian studies show an upper bound of 1.7%, with a median estimate of 1.5%; 2) other statistical agencies use lower rates; and 3) every academic study over the past 40 years has arrived at a lower rate. As a consequence of this study and the existing supporting evidence, the depreciation rate in the Canadian CPI was lowered to 1.5% effective January 1998.