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...

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...

When we provide you as the reader news from the Tost Realty Group, we happen to love the days when it is positive! According to a recent report by the Altus Group, the main reason that the housing market has been a bit lackluster this year was the absence of first-time buyers, but all indicators point to the fact that they will soon be back shopping for Calgary Real Estate. Patricia Arsenault, VP of research and consulting services at Altus Group claimed that “With all of the policy changes...

The Calgary Real Estate calls it a bumpy road to recovery, and that was certainly evident in looking at what happened last month in our city.

February 2018 Stats

Sales of residential  properties dropped in February by 18% over 2017.  That’s a huge dip from last year.  But thankfully, we didn’t see an equally drastic decline in home prices.  We were fortunate in that we didn’t get the usual number of new listings last month which helped to keep prices on an even keel.   The current supply of homes for sale in Calgary sits at about four months.  Days on the market is another step back, at least from this time last year.  It’s gone from an average of 48 days to 51.

As of...

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 think it’s going to be a fairly decent year for real estate in Calgary.

This morning was the annual Calgary Real Estate Board’s Forecast Breakfast and whether the market is up, down or sideways we always come away with renewed vigor and optimism about how the year is going to go.   And today’s event was no excpetion.

CREB always likes to be cautiously optimistic and has announced that 2018 will offer its share of challenges.  The road to economic recovery continues to be bumpy – nothing is happening overnight – but there’s every indication that we can safely adopt an optimistic attitude.

The Short Term

Over coffee and dainties this morning, we heard from Ann-Marie...

It’s a fresh New Year, full of promise and optimism especially when it comes to Calgary Real Estate.  What will happen with house prices?  Will condo prices ever pick up after a 10-year slump?  And, now that I’ve waited for the recession to end, should I sell this year?

As I write this, we’ve all just learned that Amazon  has chosen not to relocate a facility for its HQ2 in Calgary.  We didn’t even make the short list of 20 different cities (like Toronto did).  I read a few predictions about 2018 from various Calgarians at the end of December that declared that Amazon and the reported 50,000 new jobs that would come with it would boost our real estate market.  So, nothing to do now but go onward.

Looking...

When more mortgage rules were announced for uninsured mortgages last month, I thought it might precipitate a spike in real estate sales in Calgary.  People just don’t want to pay higher interest rates, and with the threat of new buyers being forced into homes in a lower price bracket, and in a neighbourhood they didn’t want to live in, people reacted.

The November 2017 stats were released on Dec 1 by the Calgary Real Estate Board (CREB) showing that sales are up 15% over November 2016 - proving my point.  Real estate sales were up to 1,411 units, with improvement in numbers across the board.  The majority though were in homes priced under half a million dollars.

Why Sales Are Moving

CREB Chief Economist Ann-Marie...

Last month’s Calgary real estate statistics show the market in our city is in maintenance-mode.  No worse and no better when you look at Calgary as a whole.  A little worse in some areas and a little better in some.

The Good News

Starting on a positive note, October was a good month if you are selling a semi-detached home.  Duplexes or “paired homes” as some marketers are starting to call them, have seen the best improvement this year in terms of price gains.  The average price for a semi-detached home was $419,400 which is 3% more than 2016 levels.  Demand is up across the city for semi-detached.  It’s the only product that has experienced sales volumes that are higher...