MONTREAL, QUEBEC--(Marketwire - May 23, 2012) - National Bank (TSX:NA) and Teranet are pleased to announce that the Teranet - National Bank House Price Index™ will now provide a more timely indication of the housing market. The index will be published a full month sooner, no later than 30 days after the transaction month. Accordingly, the May 30^th index publication will include index data from the months of March and April 2012 and will entail a slight revision to some of the city indices, more specifically the Vancouver and Victoria house price indices.

"This is another improvement in the Canadian benchmark house price index. It will help market participants make more informed financial decisions. Further index development can be expected, providing yet more value added information on the Canadian housing market," said Simon Côté, Managing Director - Risk Management Solutions at National Bank.

The Teranet - National Bank House Price Index is an independent representation of the rate of change of Canadian single-family home prices. The measurements are based on the property records of public land registries, where sale price is available. The monthly indices cover 11 Canadian metropolitan areas: Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Hamilton, Montreal, Ottawa-Gatineau, Québec, Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria, and Winnipeg. Indices are published monthly, on the last Wednesday of each month, on [ www.housepriceindex.ca ]. Since its launch in December 2008, the index has steadily gained acceptance on a path to becoming a Canadian benchmark. It is now perceived by many as the most accurate measure of change in Canadian house prices.

"With the recent expansion into 11 cities and our focus on continuous improvement, the Teranet - National Bank House Price Index continues to strengthen its market acceptance as a reliable and trustworthy source of Canadian housing market performance for financial professionals" added Eduardo Alzamora, Director, Financial Services at Teranet. "This will further strengthen HPI's position to become the most accepted measure when evaluating the rate of change in Canadian house prices."

The Teranet - National Bank House Price Index is based on the "repeat sales methodology," which is widely accepted as the most reliable and robust approach for tracking the housing market. In fact, this same methodology is used for the house price benchmark index in the United States. To be included in the calculation, properties must have been sold at least twice. The two prices are used to measure the increase or decrease in property value in the period between the two transactions.

The index is published monthly on the last Wednesday of each month at [ www.housepriceindex.ca ]. Indices are published 30 days after transactions are registered. The actual and historical values of the index, as well as a description of the methodology, are also available on this site.

About Teranet

Teranet is an international leader in electronic land registration and is the exclusive provider of online property search and registration in Ontario. The company developed, owns and operates Ontario's Electronic Land Registration System (ELRS) which is the means by which ownership of real property and interests on title are searched, recorded and transferred in the Province. In addition to the company's services for the Province of Ontario, Teranet offers a complementary suite of innovative electronic solutions to a network of more than 80,000 end users, 42 real estate boards and over 250 municipalities and institutions in the legal, real estate, government and financial markets. In a 2011 Customer Experience survey, Teranet garnered a score of 86.2% for this Value Added Solutions line of business. For more information about Teranet, visit [ www.teranet.ca ].

About National Bank of Canada

With $175 billion in assets as at January 31, 2012, National Bank of Canada ([ www.nbc.ca ]), together with its subsidiaries, forms one of Canada's leading integrated financial groups, and was named among the five strongest banks in the world by Bloomberg Markets. The Bank has close to 20,000 employees and is widely recognized as a top employer. Its securities are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: NA). Follow the Bank's activities via social media and learn more about its extensive community involvement at [ clearfacts.ca ] and [ commitment.nationalbank.ca ].

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Contributing Sources

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