Improved consumer confidence is helping push up housing prices in Calgary ahead of rising interest rates, a report by Royal LePage said Thursday.

In it first-quarter survey, Calgary home prices across all categories were higher than the same period last year, the realtor said.

Price increases varied widely, with some year-over-year jumps of more than 25 per cent for two-storey homes in some of the north inner-city neighbourhoods.

"What you're seeing in some cases are spikes that are a result of a particular product coming on in an area where there haven't been any listings," said Ted Zaharko, owner of Royal LePage Foothills in Calgary.

"That shouldn't be interpreted as an overheated market."

On average, two-storey homes posted the largest increase in Calgary, rising 10.6 per cent to $432,178. Bungalow prices rose seven per cent to $419,411.

Condominium prices were up 7.2 per cent to $263,533.

Compared to the previous quarter, sale prices were mostly higher, although some neighbourhoods notched slight declines.

Zaharko noted that residential building permits continue to rise, with an unexpected increase posted in March. That is another signal of strength in housing market demand as builders continue to construct homes, he said.

Across the country, growth was uneven, but the Canadian housing market was generally buoyed by strong consumer demand, the survey found.

"The first quarter of 2010 continued where 2009 left off, with more Canadians enthusiastically participating in a rejuvenated residential real estate market," Phil Soper, president and chief executive of Royal LePage Real Estate Services, said in a release. "One of the earliest sectors of the economy to return to growth after the difficult recessionary period, the housing sector has been a prime beneficiary of low borrowing costs and improving consumer confidence."

House prices were up across all key housing types surveyed by Royal LePage, with the average price of a detached bungalow in Canada rising 11 per cent to $329,209 in the first quarter compared with the first quarter a year earlier. Standard two-storey homes rose 10.3 per cent to $365,141 and standard condominiums increased 10.9 per cent to $228,963.

The survey, which looks at seven types of housing in more than 250 neighbourhoods coast to coast, found there were three different trends across the country.

The first pattern, seen in urban centres such as Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria, was a roller-coaster effect in which prices dropped sharply then rose dramatically to levels that exceed pre-recessionary prices.

The second trend saw non-stop growth in markets such as Halifax, Ottawa, Regina, Saint John, N.B., St. John's, N.L., and Winnipeg.

The third pattern saw level markets, where house prices remained little changed in centres such as Edmonton, Moncton, N.B., and Montreal.

However, the report notes price increases in all markets are expected to ease in mid-to late-2010.

"Even in our most frenzied pockets of market activity, the inevitable rise in interest rates coupled with home price appreciation will rein in demand as affordability erodes. Expect house prices to continue to rise, but the rate of appreciation should ebb steadily, month by month, throughout the remainder of the year, as balance returns to the industry," said Soper.