Calgary Real Estate Market Statistics July 2016

The most recent CREB report has found that sales activity continues to decline in the City of Calgary. Just as the city has continued to struggle in all economic aspects, so has its housing market. This condition has only been further exacerbated by the declining net migration levels within the city.

Slowing Housing Sales

According to the CREB report, housing sales activity in Calgary reached a total of 1,741 units during the month of July. This represents a 12.6 percent decrease when compared to the same time last year, making it the 20^th consecutive month in which the city has experienced a drop in year-over-year sales. As the number of unemployed workers within the city continues to grow, the net migration continues to fall and job loss continues to be a problem, the overall state of the housing market has also continued to weaken. 

A Drop in New Listings

Just as sales have fallen in the Calgary housing market, so has the number of new listings. As a result of this decline in new listings, the city did manage to stave off further inventory gains. In turn, this helped to minimize the downward pressure being placed on benchmark prices. As such, the residential benchmark price was $440,000 by the end of July. While this figure is similar to what was reported for the same time last year, it does represent a 4.2 percent drop when comparing July 2016 to July 2015 figures. 

Examining Benchmark Prices

Overall, detached prices within the Calgary housing market appear to be leveling off, but this trend is not being seen with all property types. The apartment sector, for example has over six months of inventory, which means oversupply continues to be a problem that is resulting in falling prices. In July, the benchmark for the apartment sector was $277,000. This figure represents a 0.4 percent decline when compared to the previous month and a 6.6 percent drop when comparing year-to-year figures. 

For detached products, city-wide benchmark prices totaled $502,300 during the month of July. While this figure is similar to the one posted last month, it is 3.4 percent lower than the figures posted last year at this same time. Semi and row attached products also experienced a year-over-year drop, with semi dropping by 3.1 percent to $385,200 and attached falling by 5.5 percent to $310,300.

Unfortunately, these figures are not much of a surprise to those who are familiar with the Calgary housing market. As the city continues to struggle with its economy, buyers expect to see ongoing declines in sold prices. As a result, sellers continue to find themselves needing to adjust to softer demand as they lower their prices and expectations. When both sellers and buyers are able to meet their expectations of the Calgary market, sales activity does experience a bit of a bump. At this point, however, the market is nowhere near realizing the activity that it was experiencing over the last several years.