Calgary house prices jump 4% from last year

Calgary posted the second highest year-over-year gain in home prices in April, according to the MLS Home Price Index released Friday by the Canadian Real Estate Association.
The index in the city rose by 4.02 per cent in April from a year ago, behind Greater Toronto, which saw a hike of 7.85 per cent.
Greater Vancouver saw an increase of 3.69 per cent followed by the lower Mainland, 3.43 per cent, the Fraser Valley, 2.73 per cent, and Greater Montreal, 2.3 per cent.
At the national level, the index rose by 5.24 per cent from April 2011.
“Calgary is also now seeing prices begin to advance in earnest, supported by a strong economic outlook, recent gains in in-migration, and strong full-time job growth,” said CREA.
According to the Calgary Real Estate Board, the following were benchmark prices and their year-over-year change in April in the city: apartment, $243,400, 0.08 per cent; townhome, $276,300, 2.68 per cent; single family, $422,100, 5.47 per cent; one-storey single family, $389,400, 4.51 per cent; two-storey single family, $461,600, 6.31 per cent; and composite, $379,200, 4.23 per cent.
Canadian home price gains are generally expected to moderate, but there are a few hot spots where prices are being fuelled by some very strong housing market fundamentals, said Wayne Moen, CREA’s President.
“Toronto has less than two months of supply compared to six months nationally, so it ranks among the tightest of Canadian housing markets,” he said.
Among the different housing types tracked by the index, single-family homes in the markets surveyed again posted the biggest year-over-year gains in April (6.4 per cent), led by two-storey single-family homes (6.9 per cent). The index for one-storey single-family homes rose 5.6 per cent from April 2011, while townhouses and apartments saw gains of 3.6 per cent and 2.7 per cent, respectively.
“Just as there are some pretty clear differences emerging across markets right now, there have also been some interesting developments in price trends across housing types,” said Gregory Klump, CREA’s Chief Economist. “The one that really stood out in April was accelerating price growth for the townhouse segment right across the board. In Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, it was the only segment in which prices gains accelerated.