Local home market stays hot despite national cooling trend

Sales of homes in Calgary bucked a national trend of declining sales in June, increasing in volume and value, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association Monday.
While monthly numbers were down nationwide, sales for the first half of the year were up 4.7 per cent from 2011, at 257,193 homes.
Those statistics were also decidedly different in Calgary, where the city’s strong economy saw residential sales jump 16 per cent during the first half of the year from the same period in 2011, said Bob Jablonski, chair of the Calgary Real Estate Board.
“We are finding the quality of the consumer here in Calgary, their earning power is very good and the stability is good,” Jablonski said.
While Calgary’s numbers were up, there was a definite chill in nationwide numbers, the Canadian association said. The number of Canadian homes sold last month dropped more than four per cent from the level in June 2011, the first year-over-year decline since April 2011, according to the its monthly report.
Resales of homes were also down 1.3 per cent in June from May – the second month-to-month decline – with a total of 46,444 transactions through CREA members. That was down from 48,591 in June 2011, the association said.
The national average home price in June was $369,339, down 0.8 per cent from the same month last year, CREA said.
In Calgary, single-family benchmark prices rose 7.3 per cent year-over-year in June to $430,800.
Condo apartment values in the city were relatively flat, up 1.5 per cent, with townhouse sales up 3.3 per cent, Jablonski said.
The national real-estate association said prices increased in Calgary, remained strong in Toronto and continued to slow in Vancouver.
Economists and consumers have been closely watching for signs that demand has softened to the point where prices will start falling.
Doug Porter, deputy chief economist with BMO Capital Markets, noted about 70 per cent of Canada’s cities continued to report price increases despite the headline decline, with a median 1.9 per cent year-over-year rise among the 26 largest markets.