The largest number of real estate listings in many years has been paired with a drop in average sales, but even so, the Calgary housing market appears to be stable. Ann-Marie Lurie, economist for the Calgary Real Estate Board called a “lack of recovery in oil” the cause, because people are worried about their jobs. “However, on aggregate, surrounding area prices have posted some quarterly growth as some of these areas have not recorded the same level of pull-back in sales relative to inventory levels,” Lurie said.
The unadjusted normal prices for homes in the areas around Calgary were an entire percentage point above the average numbers that had been measured during the last quarter, and close to 10% above the first quarter of 2014. “City of Calgary prices have started to retract, but it is important to note that total residential benchmark prices in Calgary recovered from 2007 highs in 2013,” said Lurie.
In parts around Calgary, over 900 homes were sold in the first three months of the new year, and that was nearly a 23% decrease compared to the same numbers from the previous year. New homes for sale were increased by more than 11% and the average number of listing for that period were 1,715.
The Canadian Real Estate Association said that the number of listings were better both in Calgary and the areas around the city, according to president Corinne Lyall. She said it gave people that were thinking about buying a house a lot more options to choose from. “Each of the surrounding areas has its own unique dynamic, so it’s really important to consider the community and specific segment of the market that you are buying or selling in when making any real estate decisions.”
Sales in Airdrie were over 300 homes in the first three months of 2015, which was a decrease of 10% when you compare it to the previous year’s numbers. Over that first period, prices in Airdale that were considered normal increased first quarter with average detached-home costs coming to an average of about $397,000. That was a quarter of a percentage increase over last year’s quarter and an increase of nearly 8.5% from last year. That also holds true for Cochrane where the detached-home costs were averaging $445,000 in quarter one, which was a rise of more than 2.5% from the quarter before it and an increase of 12.5% from last year. Cochrane had 116 sales in the first quarter, which was 35% lower than the same time last year.
Compared to Calgary real estate and some of the areas around it, Cochrane’s reselling section is a little different, because there is a larger portion of new homes that get sold there that get included with the total sales, Lurie says. “After the first quarter, new home sales activity represented nearly 20% of total sales in Cochrane, compared to 10% in Airdrie and 5% in Okotoks.”
In Okotoks, the detached-home standard price was an average of $453,500 in quarter one, which was nearly a 1.25% increase from the previous quarter and it was a full seven percent higher than the first quarter of 2014. In the first part of 2015, sales were 117, which was over a 21 percent increase compared to the previous year. Detached home sales make up the largest part of sales in Okotoks, at least when compared to Airdrie and Cochrane.
