It is a great time to be buying real estate in Calgary!!!

June 15, 2015

Calgary housing ‘price crash’

Oversupply in any market would normally lead to falling prices but that’s not happening in Canada’s housing market, according to National Bank Financial.
The bank and mortgage lender says that house prices were up 0.9 per cent nationally in May from a month earlier and 4.6 per cent year-over-year.
In 10 of the 11 urban markets studied, there were increased prices but in Calgary prices were down by 3.3 per cent month-over-month with high-end houses taking the largest hit.
That statistic come against the backdrop of Vancouver, Toronto, Hamilton and Quebec City all setting new record highs.
Meanwhile, the bank’s senior economist Marc Pinsonneault said there are signs of oversupply in all markets except Ontario and B.C.

Detailed May Statistics

June 8, 2015

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Summer is here – recreational sale are up!!

June 5, 2015

The sale of recreational homes is starting to pick up after a slow start to the year, according to a new report by Royal LePage.
Its annual market status report showed most regions are seeing a surge of activity as spring buying season releases the pent-up demand.
The report compares this season to 2014 when the recovery after a harsh winter was slow and overall sales remained lower. There are exceptions; Alberta, some eastern B.C. areas popular with Albertans, and Newfoundland. In these areas sales are slow, putting downward pressure on prices.
Phil Soper, president and chief executive of Royal LePage, says that the dream of recreational home ownership is alive and well: “Dominated primarily by buyers in their 40s and 50s with families, these are people who are seeking to re-create the idyllic weekends and summers of their youth.
“Today’s low interest rate environment has supported discretionary, aspirational purchases in a number of sectors.”
He also says that the firm’s agents have seen an uptick in the urban luxury sector this year.
While the oil price has clearly impacted some provincial economies and sentiment, Soper says that for those in other provinces it has helped with the decision to buy a cottage as the lower gasoline prices make getting there more affordable.
The report shows that while all recreational property types have seen increases waterfront property continues to attract the highest demand.

by CRE | 05 Jun 2015

Market moves toward balanced conditions

June 1, 2015

Calgary housing prices change direction in May
Screen shot 2015-06-01 at 5.46.43 PM
For the first time since December 2014, Calgary’s residential unadjusted benchmark prices improved over the previous month. Within the city of Calgary, housing prices totaled $454,100 in May, a monthly and year-over-year increase of 0.55 and 0.96 per cent.
“For the third month in the row, new listings have eased compared to last year, helping push the market toward more balanced conditions, despite the current environment of slower sales activity,” said CREB^® chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie. “This has helped prevent further declines in the unadjusted benchmark price.”
New listings in the city of Calgary totaled 3,161 units in May, a 27 per cent decrease over last year. Meanwhile, total inventory levels for the month were 5,342 units, 16 per cent higher than last year, but eight per cent lower than May levels recorded over the past five years and three per cent lower than average levels over the past 10 years.
Two measures of balance are the months of supply and the sales to new listings ratio. In May, the months of supply decreased to 2.43, while the sales to new listings ratio was 69 per cent, both within the norms for balanced conditions.
“Back in January, higher inventory levels relative to sales activity caused months of supply to rise above five months,” said CREB^® president Corinne Lyall. “While some challenges continue to exist for sellers, depending on the property type, price and location, the decline in the months of supply points toward more stability for both buyers and sellers.”
Year-to-date the detached sector recorded the largest decline in new listings at eight per cent. While overall inventory levels are 12 per cent higher than last year’s levels, they remain well below the five and 10 year averages for May.
Detached sales activity in May totaled 1,366 units, with the majority of transactions occurring below $500,000. While conditions are not as tight as last year’s market conditions, which favoured the seller, over the first five months of this year activity in this price range has remained relatively balanced.
“This segment of the detached market continues to have a good amount of consumer activity, as many have taken advantage of the improved selection compared to last year,” said Lyall. “While some have waited for steeper price declines, to this point it just hasn’t happened across all areas of the market. This is partly related to activity in the under $500,000 segment.”
Meanwhile, year-to-date apartment sales and new listings totaled 1,383 and 3,229 units respectively. The May apartment benchmark price of $294,800 increased by 1.20 per cent compared to last month, but remains 0.2 per cent below May 2014 figures.
The apartment sector continues to remain the only sector where prices have contracted relative to last year’s figures.
“While the resale market has recorded an easing of upward inventory pressures, the new home sector has started to record some gains in inventory,” said Lurie. “Current new home inventories remain relatively low. However, the overall impact on Calgary’s housing prices will ultimately depend on the duration of the economic slowdown and the amount of inventory build-up in the new home sector.”
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Calgary Regional Housing Market Satistics for April 2015

May 4, 2015

New Listings Decline as Home Prices Ease
Improved sales to new listings ratio reduces inventory gains
After the fifth consecutive monthly benchmark price decline in Calgary, the number of new home listings eased to 3,064 units in April, an 18 per cent decrease over the previous year. “With fewer buyers making purchase decisions and improved selection for resale, new home and rental property, sellers have been either adjusting their expectations on price or delaying their plans about when to list their home,” said CREB® president Corinne Lyall.
Sales activity in April totaled 1,957 units, 22 per cent below last year’s levels and nearly 15 per cent below April’s long term averages. Despite weak sales levels, the drop in new listings prevented strong gains in overall inventory levels and helped improve absorption rates in the market.
“While conditions continue to favour the buyer, both the months of supply and the sales to new listings ratio, which represent measures of market balance, tightened in April,” said CREB® chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie. “If this trend continues, it should help prevent resale inventories from rising to previous highs and limit some of the downward price pressures we’ve been seeing.”
Benchmark prices for detached homes totaled $510,200 in April, which represents an unadjusted decline of 0.7 per cent from last month and 1.9 per cent higher than April 2014 figures. Meanwhile, apartment product recorded a monthly decline of 0.7 and a year-over year decline of 0.2 per cent Year-to-date apartment sales activity has declined by 33 per cent, while new listings have risen by nearly eight per cent.
Despite the recent shift in new listings, months of supply in this sector remain elevated, causing steeper monthly price declines and a year-overyear price contraction. “There’s improved selection across all segments of the market, which takes some of the urgency away for buyers as they consider all of their options before making a purchase decision,” said Lyall. “Sellers have more competition and need to be aware of how much product is available in comparable neighborhoods.” The detached sector continues to be the most balanced out of the three market sectors.
For the second month in a row, the sales to new listings ratio and the months of inventory moved to levels that are more consistent with balanced conditions. However, the detached market does vary significantly depending on the price range. “Higher priced properties in the detached sector saw a noticeable decline in absorption levels city-wide, indicating there is less demand relative to supply levels,” said Lurie. “This does not come as a surprise as many of the job losses in recent months have occurred in the higher paying sectors.”
Meanwhile, areas outside city limits are also impacted by the slower economic conditions. Year-to-date sales activity in the surrounding areas totaled 1,346 units, a 26 per cent decline. Despite positive growth following the first quarter, April benchmark prices totaled $434,800, 0.4 per cent below last month’s figures and 5.8 per cent above April 2014 figures. “Market impacts on pricing are wide ranging and ultimately depend on the location, property type, specific features and amount of comparable supply available,” said Lyall. Both buyers and sellers need to be aware of the local market conditions and adjust their expectations accordingly.”
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CALGARY REGIONAL HOUSING MARKET STATISTICS – April 2015

Sales improve as consumers have more choice

June 2, 2014

City-wide price gains and better weather support year-over-year gains in new listings

Click Here for the full .pdf of the CALGARY REGIONAL HOUSING MARKET STATISTICS.

Residential sales in the city of Calgary totaled 2,948 units in May, a 16 per cent increase over the previous year.
Sales last month were well above long-term trends and are the highest May activity on record.
“Strong sales activity is a reflection of improving fundamental conditions such as a growing population, favourable lending rates and rising wages,” says CREB® chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie. “Leading up to May, resale market sales were somewhat restricted by lack of choice.
However, recent price gains have encouraged growth in new listings, helping meet some of the housing demand.”
In May, new listings totaled 4,327, a 16.5 per cent rise over figures reported during the same time last year with gains in new listings nearly matching sales growth. While inventories remain nearly five per cent below levels recorded last year, this is the first time in over two years that year-over-year declines were not in the double digits.
While market conditions continue to favour the seller, improving supply has helped ease some of the tightness in the market.
“Market conditions vary depending on the product type,” says CREB® president Bill Kirk.
“Both condominium apartment and townhouse style products have recorded inventory growth relative to last year.
This is good news for consumers looking for more choice in condominiums priced between $200,000 and $400,000.” Year-to-date condominium apartment sales have totaled 2,020 units, a 21 per cent increase over the first five months of 2013.
Meanwhile, the recent boost in new listings caused inventory levels to rise to 1,051 units, a 13.1 per cent increase compared to last year, representing 23.3 per cent of all city-wide inventories.
Click Here for the full .pdf of the CALGARY REGIONAL HOUSING MARKET STATISTICS.

CALGARY REGIONAL HOUSING MARKET STATISTICS for August 2013

September 10, 2013

SUMMER SALES STAY STRONG

Seller’s market conditions persist, pushing up prices

(click on the photo above to download the full report)

Residential sales within city limits totaled 2,196 units, an 27.5 per cent increase over 2012 and 8.7 per cent on a year-to-date basis.
The level of transactions was well above long-term trends for the month, mostly due to improved activity in the single-family sector. However, on a year-to-date basis, activity is only slightly higher than expectations.
“The sales have been limited by the need for more resale listings,” said CREB® President Becky Walters. “However, August did see more new listings than last year, giving buyers more choice.”
August new listings recorded a year-over-year improvement of 7.4 per cent. While seller’s market conditions persist and total inventory levels keep falling, improvement in new listings helped prevent further tightening in the market despite the sales growth.
Single-family sales totaled 1,517 units in August, a 30 per cent increase over the previous year. Despite strong sales in the past couple of months, year-to-date sales activity has grown by 5.4 per cent, slightly stronger than anticipated.
Click on the following link to download the full report of the Monthly Housing Statistics for August.

City's housing affordability 'among better in Canada'

August 28, 2013

Calgary’s housing market appears to have weathered the worst floods in memory with the second-strongest quarterly sales gain in four years, says the Royal Bank.
“A strong provincial economy, solid labour market, fast-rising population, and attractive affordability continue to fuel demand for Calgary housing,” said the bank’s latest Housing Trends and Affordability Report, to be released Tuesday.
The RBC report, which measured the April to June period, said monthly resale activity increased for six straight months, including in June (rising 1.1 per cent month-overmonth) and July (up 3.1 per cent). On a quarterly basis, home resales rose 12 per cent.
“While prices recently embarked on a more steeply upward trajectory, the effect of faster-rising prices has yet to undermine affordability in any material way,” said RBC. “In fact, affordability levels in Calgary continue to be among the better in Canada.”
The RBC affordability index determines the proportion of median pretax household income needed to service the cost of mortgage payments, property taxes and utilities.
Its measures for Calgary showed little movement in the second quarter, with two-storey homes rising by 0.5 percentage points to 33.6 per cent, while condominium apartments edged lower by 0.2 percentage points to 19.4 per cent.
And while the report cautions home ownership has become less affordable for the average Canadian, RBC said Alberta homebuyers continued to enjoy a relatively affordable housing market.
“Despite the fact that the market has kicked into higher gear since spring – thereby boosting prices and increasing ownership costs – Alberta continues to be a relatively affordable market,” said Craig Wright, senior vice-president and chief economist with RBC. “We will likely see some disruptions in market activity trickle through in summer data from the floods in southern Alberta; however, we anticipate the strong provincial economy will endure, supporting further housing growth in 2014.”
Nationally, during the second quarter, affordability measures rose for two of the three categories of homes tracked. RBC’s measure for the detached bungalow rose 0.3 percentage points and for the standard two-storey home rose 0.4 percentage points to 42.7 per cent and 48.4 per cent, respectively. The measure for the standard condominium was unchanged at 27.9 per cent.
Vancouver’s affordability measure gained 2.2 points to 82.1 on a detached bungalow, while Toronto’s increased half a point to 54.5.

calgary market statistics