Truck prices continued upward climb due to growing inventory of new, updated vehicles; new European vehicles are the most expensive compared to Asian and Domestic counterparts and Québec maintains distinction as the most economical region in Canada to purchase a vehicle.
The final autoTRADER.ca Price Index for 2019 once again offers an overview of the Canadian automotive marketplace. The Price Index provides up-to-date information on pricing shifts and trends through in-depth analysis of new and used vehicle pricing data from over 400,000 listings.
New vehicle prices remained above the $40,000 threshold in December 2019 as the median price settled at $40,386 for the month. This accounted for a 0.3 percent decline month-over-month and a 1.5 percent increase year-over-year. Meanwhile, used vehicle prices remain stable at $18,900 translating to a modest increase of 0.1 percent from the previous month. Compared to the same period in 2018, we see an increase of 5.0 percent.
Québec Leads in Affordability
Québec ended off the year as the most economical region in Canada to buy both new and used vehicles. This was largely due to a greater inventory of sedans, which accounted for 51 percent of the vehicle composition in the region (36% SUVs and 13% trucks) compared to an average of 42 percent across the nation.
This is a reflection of local consumer preference, as data indicates Québecers tend to favour more practical vehicles like the Honda Civic - the province's top searched model this year. 2019 saw Manitoba and Saskatchewan overtake Alberta as the most expensive regions in Canada to purchase a used vehicle. Meanwhile, Alberta retained the highest median price for new vehicles and the Maritimes were the most economical at the start of the year, but lost out to Québec by the end of 2019.
New vehicle price growth is strongest in British Columbia, up 3.3 percent from last month, ending the year at $43,375. B.C. is the only Province to have a notable price increase in Canada month-over-month. The Maritimes and Manitoba and Saskatchewan experienced a decline in prices by 2.8 percent and 3.0 percent respectively from last month. New vehicle prices in Québec remained flat, ending the year at $34,104. From a used vehicle price perspective, Québec saw the greatest increase month-over-month with a gain of 1.3 percent. Prices in Alberta settled at $22,880, recovering from early 2019 to end the year up 4.0 percent.
Truck Prices Gain Ground
New sedans, trucks, and SUVs are all up month-over-month by 1.5, 0.2, and 0.7 percent respectively as manufacturers continue to replace 2019 models with an updated 2020 lineup. New trucks experienced the greatest year-over-year growth of 5.7 percent, followed by sedans, up 4.9 percent. The same cannot be said for new SUV prices, which experienced a decline of 0.2 percent, a trend we will continue to monitor. Our data confirms that used vehicle prices have remained relatively flat, with minimal growth. Used sedans and truck prices registered a slight increase of 1.4 and 0.7 percent year-over-year, with no change month-over-month, while used SUV prices are up 2.4 percent year-over-year, and only 0.1% month-over-month.
European Vehicles Most Expensive
New European vehicle prices closed out the year with a median price of $50,935, a 1.0 percent increase month-over-month. New Domestic vehicles grew at a more modest rate of only 0.7 percent month-over-month, settling at $50,680. The steady 5.4 percent increase new Domestic vehicle prices experienced over the last year was not enough to overtake European vehicles, despite the median price of new European vehicles ending the year down a full 1.0 percent. Asian manufactured vehicles continue a slow climb to $31,899. This accounted for a 0.7 percent increase month-over-month, and 2.7 percent increase year over year. When it came to used vehicles, we witnessed a slightly different story with European models up 0.4 percent month-over-month, Domestic models up 0.3 percent and Asian models up 0.4 respectively during the same time.
These were the Top 5 Most Searched vehicles during the final month of 2019 on autoTRADER.ca’s marketplace:
1. Ford F-150
Median price new: $55,519
Median price used: $30,800
2. BMW 3-Series
Median price new: $59,608
Median price used: $19,933
3. Mercedes-Benz C-Class
Median price new: $63,272
Median price used: $28,898
4. Ford Mustang
Median price new: $42,525
Median price used: $26,995
5. Honda Civic
Median price new: $31,109
Median price used: $9,988
6. Mercedes-Benz E-Class
Median price new: $87,290
Median price used: $28,995
7. Porsche 911
Median price new: $168,678
Median price used: $114,900
8. BMW M
Median price new: $117,100
Median price used: $55,445
9. Toyota RAV4
Median price new: $36,014
Median price used: $22,995
10. Honda CR-V
Median price new: $37,790
Median price used: $20,900
Released monthly, the autoTRADER.ca Price Index provides a snapshot of the Canadian automotive market to bring a level of transparency to the vehicle buying process. Analyzing pricing data from autoTRADER.ca’s marketplace of over 400,000 listings, tracking new and used vehicle pricing allows our data experts to identify how prices are trending nationally and provincially, along with the most searched models by consumers. The full results of the December 2019 Price Index can be found here.
You may also like
