New Year Begins With Slow Start 

City of Calgary, Tost Realty Group, February 1, 2019

As challenges related to the economy continue into the 2019 year, the market as a whole is still on the slow side.  January sales totalled 804 units, sitting at 16 per cent below last year, and 21 percent below long-term monthly averages. 

Chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie stated last week that:  “The slow start to the year does not come as a surprise, as concerns about job losses and the state of the energy sector weigh on consumers.  We anticipate that the slow market conditions will persist throughout much of the first quarter."

The number of new listings entering the market is still comparable to last year's data, but those levels have increased beyond normal sales activity.  Higher inventory levels are the main culprit for this occurrence. Elevated inventories in relation to sales...

Soft Job Market and Restrictions on Lending Influenced 2018's Real Estate Market

City of Calgary, Tost Realty Group, January 2, 2019

As oversupply is still a pertinent issue, prices during December slowed by one per cent, and are currently situated at over three percent below this time last year. 

CREB chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie stated last month that “Persistent weakness in the job market and changes in the lending market impacted sales activity in the resale market this year”. This definitely contributed to a heightened supply in the resale market, resulting in a decline in price. 

Sales in December sat at a total of 794 units, a 21 per cent decline over the previous year. Overall year-to-date sales in the city sat at a total of 16, 144 units, a 14 per cent dip from two years ago, and 20 percent below previously standing long-term averages.

The Inventory levels statistic...

Economic Conditions Continue to Challenge Vitality of Resale Market 

City of Calgary, Dec. 3, 2018 

Sales during the month of November sat at a total of 1,171 units, remaining below long-standing averages. 

For the year up to this point, monitored sales activity has rang in at 15,349 units, displaying a 14 per cent decline over last year, and nearly 20 per cent below standing averages. 

During November, New listings eased by seven per cent compared to last year. Due to this substantial shift in new listings, further inventory gains have been prevented. Overall inventory is currently at 6,501 units, remaining slightly above the 5,683 units in inventory seen last year, and 32 percent higher than in a typical November.  

Throughout the month of November, the citywide benchmark price was $422,600, hovering near one percent lower than last month, and at 3 percent lower than levels...

Oversupplied Market Ultimately Weighs on Prices 

City of Calgary, November 1, 2018 

Inventory levels are elevated when compared alongside sales, which is causing Calgary housing prices to ease a bit more. 

Benchmark prices in the entire city during October totalled $426,300, which is a downward trend for the fifth month in a row. This resulted ultimately in a year-over-year decline of 2.9 percent. 

Chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie of CREB claimed avidly that job growth in the city remained a dire concern, as unemployment levels remain well above expected. The overall cost of ownership continuing to rise also will ultimately provide a burden of weight on the housing market and demand. 

Overall sales and inventories totaled 7,345 and 1,322 during the month of October. Typical monthly levels usually hover around 5.6, and while there is a bit of slowing in listing growth, this ultimately prevents further inventory risings. Currently the...

After the wedding ends and the party is over, it is time to start thinking about a place to call home, your first martial home of all your own. While some newlyweds choose to rent, some prefer to own their new home together.  Weddings can be so expensive, just ask any bride to be and she will tell you the budget is nearly always higher than anticipated leaving many newlyweds over extended and in marital debt after the wedding. With all that debt from the wedding, what options are there for the purchase of a home in terms of down payments?  See our first time home buyers guide for more information on down payment options and requirements (link below).

What to Expect When Buying your First Calgary Condo 

Your journey in purchasing a condo for the first time can be both challenging and exciting. You have to be all prepped up for all types of soul-searching and decision-making. After all, this is one of the biggest investments of your life and you don’t want to end up making the wrong choice. 

By now, you might have countless questions running through your mind. Here is some relevant information to point you in the right direction: 

Know what you want. ...

While drilling down into some of the new statistics that the Calgary Real Estate Board recently released, we discovered something very interesting.   The district of Calgary West  which is loosely defined as everything west of Crowchild Trail, north of Glenmore Trail/Highway 8 and south of the river or Trans-Canada Highway, is one of the city’s most stable market areas. That’s in all housing types, from single-family to attached, town homes and condos.  Calgary West showed the strongest annual growth in 2017 with only City Centre to look up to.

The Proof is in the Numbers

As the following chart will show, the communities in Calgary West survived the recent downturn as the best for single-family homes and was the runner-up for apartment condos. ...

We just got the stats for September 2017 and sales slipped a little in Calgary real estate last month.  The good news is that we had some good numbers in the first six months of 2017 and this activity managed to boost our year-to-date average up by 7% over 2016.  It’s still 11% under those long-term averages, and I agree with the Calgary Real Estate Board's take on the market – with more listings coming in and sales slowing in this last quarter of the year, we’re going to have to work hard to maintain our optimism!

There was a bump in inventory last month – we were up by 6,861 units – with attached properties and apartment condos setting a record for the highest inventory ever.  That means, from a buyer’s...

Calgary condo sales slow but still moving

It doesn’t appear to make sense.

We’re approaching the final quarter of this calendar year and in the world of Calgary Real Estate, there are record numbers of apartment-style condominiums on the market.   Canada Mortgage and Housing says there may be in excess of 2,000 empty units in Calgary. Yet, more brand-new condo buildings continue to be built, especially in the inner city and surprisingly, in the northeast.  All while owners of resale units are watching their days-on-the-market numbers pile up.

While it may appear fool-hardy to build more, even though our economy is slowly picking up, it’s important to remember...