2020 opens with a slight gain in sales

City of Calgary, February 2020 – Housing market conditions continue to follow similar trends to last year, with gains in sales.

At the same time, there have been further reductions in new listings, inventory and more declines in prices. January sales activity was 863 units, nearly eight percent higher than last year’s levels. While sales remained well below January activity recorded before 2014, they remain consistent with activity recorded over the past five years.

“A persistent slowdown in the energy sector has resulted in a reset in many aspects of our economy. This includes the housing market,” said CREB® chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie. “We continue to see the slow adjustment to more balanced conditions, but it will take time before that starts to translate into price stability.”

Citywide unadjusted benchmark prices were $417,100 in January. This is slightly lower than the previous month and nearly one percent lower than last year’s levels.

Benchmark prices eased, but there were some modest improvements in both the average and median prices. This is likely a reflection of some changes in the distribution of sales.

Housing Market Facts

Detached Sector

• Detached sales in January improved by six percent, thanks to growth in all districts except the North East.
• New listings declined by nearly 11 percent due to pullbacks in all areas except the City Centre and the North districts. Combined with adjustments in sales, this caused inventories to ease by 15 percent citywide.
• Reductions in supply and gains in sales supported reductions in the months of supply from nearly six months last year to just under five months this January.
• Detached benchmark prices eased by nearly one percent compared to last year. However, the only two areas to record notable year-over-year declines were the City Centre and West, with price declines exceeding three percent.

Apartment Sector

• Improving sales were met with gains in new listings, causing inventories to increase by 12 percent compared to last year.
• The gain in inventories prevented any significant adjustment in the months of supply, which remained elevated at nine months.
• The persistent oversupply continued to weigh on benchmark prices, which eased compared to last month and declined by two percent compared to last year.

Attached Sector

• Despite slower sales in the South and South east district, city-wide attached sales improved by four percent. At the same time new listings eased by nearly 18 percent, causing inventories to decline by ten percent.
• Improving sales and a drop in inventory helped the months of supply to dip below seven months, a significant improvement compared to last year’s level of nearly eight months.
• While this segment is trending toward more balanced conditions, persistent oversupply continues to weigh on prices, which trended down over the previous month and eased by over one percent compared to last year’s levels.

View the full report here: January 2020 Statistics Report

Housing Market Facts

Detached Sector

• Detached sales improved in November over last year’s levels, mostly due to growth in the $400,000 – 500,000 range. However, sales in November and overall activity remain low by historical standards.
• Despite some recent gains in sales activity, year-to-date sales remain comparable to last year’s levels and 20 percent below longer-term trends. However, detached sales have improved in both the North West and South districts this year.
• Improving sales, combined with further declines in new listings, helped reduce inventories in this sector compared to levels recorded last year. However, supply levels remained elevated based on seasonal comparisons.
• Like some of the other sectors, the detached market is slowly moving toward more balanced conditions. However, it is still oversupplied, and this trend continues to weigh on prices.
• The detached unadjusted benchmark price was $481,500 in November, slightly lower than last month’s levels and two percent below last year’s prices.

Apartment Sector

• Apartment sales pulled back this month, causing year-to-date sales to remain comparable to last year’s levels and 21 percent below long-term averages.
• The monthly decline in sales was mostly driven by pullbacks in the City Centre, North West and South East districts. However, on a year-to-date basis, sales activity improved in the North, West and South East districts.
• New listings rose across most districts, causing city-wide inventory gains this month. Much of the gains were a result of a rise in new-home listings filtering into the resale market. Despite the monthly shift, year-to-date new listings and inventories remain lower than last year’s levels.
• Weaker sales, combined with rising inventories, pushed November months of supply to over seven months. This is higher than last year’s levels of more than five months.
• Persistent oversupply in this sector caused prices to ease. The year-to-date benchmark price declined by more than two percent.

Attached Sector

View the full report here: November 2019 Statistics Report

Housing Market Facts

Detached Sector

• Sales activity this month came in just above last year’s levels, thanks to growth in all districts except the North East and North. However, year-to-date citywide levels remain comparable to last year’s levels and over 19 percent lower than longer-term trends.
• New listings continued to ease this month, but at a slower pace than levels recorded over the past eight months.
• Improvements in sales and easing new listings brought down inventory levels by 15 percent. With 3,391 units in inventory, the months of supply is just under four months. This is a decline compared to last year, but it is still high based on longer-term trends. Months of supply eased across all districts except the North, likely due to the increased pressure coming from the new home sector.
• Unadjusted benchmark prices eased over the previous month due to declines in all districts except the South East and East. Overall, prices in October remained nearly two percent lower than last year’s levels and nearly eight percent lower than previous highs.

Apartment Sector

• Apartment sales continued to improve this month and new listings eased. This helped reduce inventory levels and brought the months of supply down just under 6 months. Despite improvements, the market remained firmly in buyers’ territory.
• Year-to-date improvements in sales were driven by gains in the North, West and South East sectors. Inventory declines have occurred in all districts except the South East.
• Overall, year-to-date prices remained over two percent lower than last year’s levels and nearly 17 percent lower than peak pricing. However, there are some signs of stabilization in prices this year, with prices in the North East, South East and East remaining comparable to last year.

Attached Sector

• The attached market continues to show the largest increase in sales, with year-to-date growth of nearly seven percent. Improvements occurred across all districts except for the North West and North East.
• New listings have eased by eight percent so far this year, causing inventory declines and reductions in the amount of oversupply.
• Like most sectors, this segment remains oversupplied, which is causing price adjustments. As of October, semi-detached and row prices remained two and four percent lower than last year’s levels, respectively. Prices continue to ease across nearly all districts and remain well below previous highs.

Download the full report here: October 2019 Statistics Newsletter

Housing Market Facts

Detached

Attached

City of Calgary, September 2019

“Employment numbers have been improving, but mostly in industries that are traditionally lower paid,” said CREB® chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie. “This is contributing to the shift that we are seeing in the housing market, with growth being limited to product priced below $500,000.”

Housing Market Facts

Detached Sector

• Year-to-date detached sales remain just below last year’s levels, but sales improved in the South and North West districts this month.
• Citywide growth has been driven by homes priced under $500,000. Meanwhile, easing sales and elevated inventories among homes priced above $500,000 have increased the months of supply, pushing it further into buyers’ market territory.
• Benchmark prices in August ranged from a year-over-year decline of over five per cent in the South district to a decline of nearly one per cent in the South East.

Apartment Sector

• For the second month in a row, sales activity improved for apartment-style homes, but these gains were met with a rise in new listings. This prevented any significant adjustments to inventory levels and kept the months of supply elevated.
• Sales activity remains just below last year’s levels. On average, the amount of inventory in the market this year has eased compared to last year.
• Citywide benchmark prices in August eased compared to last year, but the East, South East and North East districts recorded modest gains. Despite those gains, prices remain well below 2014 highs.

Attached Sector

• For the sixth consecutive month, year-over-year attached sales improved in the city. This has resulted in year-to-date sales of 2,665 units, nearly a five per cent increase compared to the previous year. At the same time, new listings continue to ease, causing further reductions in inventory.
• The months of supply have moved from over six months at this time last year to under five months in August.
• These improvements have supported some monthly gains in benchmark prices, but August benchmark prices remain 2.6 per cent below last year’s levels.

For anyone who is interested in buying or selling during this interesting market period, we would love to help!

Download the full report here: August Statistics

City of Calgary, August 2019

For the fourth consecutive month, inventories in the market declined compared to last year. This is due to the combination of improving sales and a decline in new listings. The market continues to favour the buyer, but a continuation in supply reduction compared to sales is needed to support more balanced conditions. “We are starting to see reductions in supply across the resale, rental and new-home markets,” said CREB® chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie.

Year-to-date sales activity remains just below last year’s levels and well below longer-term averages. However, the reduction in inventory has caused the months of supply in July to ease to 4.5 months, a significant improvement from the 5.5 months recorded last year. With less oversupply in the market, prices are showing some signs of stability on a monthly basis. This is causing the rate of price decline to ease on a year-over-year basis. Overall, year-to-date benchmark prices remain over four percent below last year’s level.

“This adjustment in supply to the lower levels of demand will support more balanced conditions. It is starting to support more stability in prices. If this continues, the housing market should be better positioned for recovery as we move into 2020.”

Housing Market Facts

Detached Sector

• Sales activity in July was slightly higher than last year’s levels, but it was not enough to offset earlier declines, as year-to-date sales remain just below last year’s levels. Despite overall declines, trends vary significantly by price range. Year-to-date sales for product priced below $500,000 have improved by 11 percent compared to last year, while sales over $500,000 have declined by nearly 16 percent.
• New listings continue to ease for detached product, reducing inventory across most price ranges. This is also starting to result in year-over-year declines in the months of supply for all prices ranges except homes over $1 million.
• Adjustments in sales and inventories also vary significantly by district. Year-to-date sales have declined across all districts except the North West and South districts. Easing inventories have not occurred across all districts, with year-over-year July inventory gains occurring in both the City Centre and West districts.
• Buyers’ market conditions persist, with detached benchmark prices at $488,400 in July. This is over three percent lower than last year’s levels. Price declines range from a high of 5.7 percent in the South district to a low of 1.4 percent in the North East district

Apartment Sector

• Despite improvement in July, year-to-date sales for apartment condominiums eased by over four percent and remain well below longer-term averages.
• Available rental supply and ample selection in the new-home sector have impacted sales in the resale market. However, inventories continue to adjust, reducing the oversupply in this sector.
• With conditions favouring the buyer, prices continue to edge down. However, year-to-date benchmark price declines are not occurring across all districts, with modest gains occurring in the North East district.

Attached Sector

• The attached sector is the only sector with recorded growth in year-to-date sales, up nearly four percent. The affordable nature of this product, relative to detached, has likely supported some of these gains.
• The number of new listings continues to ease. This is causing inventory declines and reductions in oversupply. Like the other sectors, this segment continues to favour the buyer, preventing any significant changes in prices.
• Both row and semi-detached prices remain over three percent lower than last year’s levels and well below historical highs. Attached price declines have been the highest in the City Centre district at over five percent.

For anyone who is interested in buying or selling during this interesting market period, we would love to help!

Download: July 2019 Statistics Report

 

City of Calgary, July 2019

New listings coming onto the market continued to decline in June, which is helping to reduce the oversupply of homes in Calgary.

Year-over-year, new listings saw a decrease of nearly 19 percent. Sales activity slowed this month compared to last year by six percent, but the pullback in new listings was enough to cause inventories to fall by 15 percent compared to last year’s elevated levels.

While the market still favors the buyer – with 4.2 months of supply – the amount of oversupply has eased and is slowing the decline in prices. As of June, the benchmark price in the city was $425,700, nearly four percent below last year’s levels and comparable to unadjusted prices recorded last month.

“So far, the housing market has generally behaved as expected this year. Sales activity remains just below last year’s levels, prices have eased and supply is starting to adjust to the lower level of sales,” said CREB® chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie. “However, it is mostly product priced under $500,000 that is trending towards more balanced conditions.”

Housing Market Facts

Detached

• Detached sales in June declined by nine percent compared to last year, causing year-to-date sales to ease by nearly three percent. The decline in sales was mostly driven by homes priced above $500,000.
• Detached homes priced under $500,000 have recorded improvements in sales and oversupply reductions. The tightening in the lower end of the market will likely start to support price growth in this sector of the market.
• Despite citywide year-to-date sales declines, activity improved in both the South and North West districts of the city. Sales did ease across other districts, but in some of the most affordable districts (North East and East), supply-to-demand ratios are improving compared to last year. This is pushing those markets toward more balanced conditions.
• Despite slower sales activity, the amount of inventory declined by nearly 18 percent. The reduction in inventories occurred throughout all districts.
• Prices have remained relatively stable over the past few months, with some modest monthly improvements. However, the oversupply scenario has left prices nearly four percent below last year’s levels.

Apartment

• Apartment condominium sales eased in June, causing year-to-date sales to total 1,292 units. This is over seven percent below last year’s levels. Over the same time frame, new listings eased by over 15 percent, helping reduce some of the resale inventory in the market.
• Resale inventory levels have declined, but the months of supply continue to remain elevated at 6.8 months. Combined with elevated inventories in the competing rental and new-home markets, this continues to weigh on resale pricing.
• June’s benchmark price was $250,200, three percent below last year’s levels. This is resulting in a total price adjustment of over 17 percent since 2014.

Attached

• Unlike other property types, sales activity for attached product continued to improve in June. Year-to-date sales total 1,955 units, nearly three percent above last year’s levels. Improvements were driven mostly by growth in demand for semi-detached product. Attached sales improved across all districts except the North West and West.
• New listings have eased compared to last year, which is starting to reduce oversupply in the market. Like all other sectors, the attached market remains oversupplied and this is impacting prices.
• June’s benchmark prices were $399,700 for semi-detached and $286,300 for row product. Respectively, this represents year-over-year declines of 3.3 and 5.4 percent.

For anyone who is interested in buying or selling during this interesting market period, we would love to help!

Download: Calgary Real Estate Statistics – June 2019

Sales activity improves for second consecutive month

City of Calgary, June 2019

Sales growth in May was met with a decline in new listings. This combination eased the pressure on inventory levels, which finished the month at 7,467 units, a decline of 12 percent compared to last year.

Improving sales relative to inventory levels caused the months of supply to ease to just under four months. While still oversupplied, this is an improvement from the five months of supply recorded last May. Citywide sales in May totaled 1,921 units, 11 percent higher than last year’s levels. However, sales remain 10 percent below longer-term trends. This sales growth was primarily driven by homes prices under $500,000.

Citywide benchmark prices totaled $424,600 in May. Prices have shown some signs of improvement month-over-month, but remain four percent lower than 2018 levels.

“While sales activity remains low based on historical activity for May, the easing prices have brought some people back to market, while also preventing some others from listing their homes,” said CREB® chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie. “This has started to push the market towards more balanced conditions. If this trend continues, it could limit some of the downward pressure on prices.”

Housing Market Facts

Detached

• Detached sales in May totaled 1,182 units. This is a 12 percent increase over last year, but still 13 percent below long-term averages. The improvement in sales was driven primarily by gains in homes priced under $500,000.
• Sales activity increased across most districts in May. However, year-to-date sales have only increased in the East, South and North East districts of the city. Citywide sales remain one percent lower than last year’s levels.
• New listings in May pulled back significantly from previous year’s levels. Combined with an improvement in sales, this resulted in inventories declining from 4,504 units last May to 3,921 units this month. This is the first time since. May 2017 that year-over-year inventories declined.
• Easing inventory and improving sales caused months of supply to ease to 3.3 months. This is still elevated compared to historical levels but represents an improvement compared to levels from the past year.
• Prices have remained relatively stable over the past few months, with some modest monthly improvements. However, the oversupply scenario has left prices four percent lower than last year and seven percent lower than 2014 highs.

Apartment

• May benchmark prices totaled $248,200, 0.6 percent lower than last month and nearly three percent lower than last year’s levels. This is resulting in a total price adjustment of over 17 percent since 2014.
• The improvement in monthly sales was not enough to offset previous declines. Year-to-date apartment sales sit at 1,030 units. This is seven percent lower than last year and 28 percent lower than longer-term averages. Easing sales were met with fewer new listings, reducing the market inventory. This pushed months of supply to just over five months.
• If the reduction in oversupply continues, it will eventually help limit price declines. However, this market remains oversupplied and prices continue to edge down.

Attached

• Attached sales activity continue to improve in May. Year-to-date sales improved by two percent, making this the only sector to record a year-to-date improvement. Improvements occurred throughout most districts of the city, apart from the City Centre, North West, and West districts.
• New listings have also pulled back relative to sales. This is causing inventories to ease compared to last year and months of supply to trend down.
• Benchmark prices remain five percent lower than last year’s levels but have seen some modest gains on a month-to-month basis. Despite some signs of improvement, prices remain 10 percent lower than 2014 highs.

For anyone who is interested in buying or selling during this interesting market period, we would love to help!

Download: Calgary Real Estate Statistics – May 2019

April brings a slight inventory decline

City of Calgary, May 2019

There have been no significant changes occurring in sales activity, but the number of new listings coming onto the market continues to ease relative to 2018 levels.

The decline in new listings was enough to start chipping away at overall inventory levels, which have eased slightly compared to last year.

The slight adjustment in supply levels has helped support further reductions in the months of supply, which was 4.6 months in April. While this level still represents oversupply in our market, it does reflect improvement from the nearly seven months of supply that we saw at the start of the year.

“Demand remains relatively weak in the resale market. However, if supply levels continue to adjust, this could help reduce the amount of oversupply and eventually support some price stability” – CREB® chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie.

As of April, the total residential benchmark price in Calgary was $415,900. This is slightly higher than last month, but still nearly five percent lower than last year’s levels.

Housing Market Facts

Detached

• Detached sales improved by nearly three percent in April compared to last year, due to gains in homes priced under $500,000. However, with 930 sales, activity still remain 24 percent below long-term averages. Recent gains were also not high enough to offset pullbacks earlier in the year, causing year-to-date sales to fall by over five percent.
• Improving sales did not occur across all districts. In April, there was growth in the North East, North West, South and South East districts of the city. Despite some signs of sales improvement, overall sales activity remains well below 10-year averages throughout every region in the city.
• April detached inventories citywide continue to remain just above levels recorded last year. Months of supply remain relatively unchanged at four months.
• The amount of oversupply has varied significantly depending on the area of the city. Months of supply has only risen in the City Centre, South and West districts of the city.
• Despite some of the adjustments occurring in the detached sector, overall April prices remain lower than last year’s levels across all districts. Year to date, the largest year-over-year declines occurred in the City Centre, North West and South districts.

Apartment

• Despite the affordability of apartment condominiums, sales activity continues to fall across the city and in most districts. There have been 714 apartment condominium sales so far this year, the lowest level since 2001.
• The decline in new listings has started to outweigh the sales decline, causing inventories to ease. As of April, resale apartment condominium inventories totalled 1,546 units, 16 percent lower than inventory levels last April.
• The easing inventories have also caused the months of supply to decline to just above six months. While this is still a buyers’ market, this trend could help ease the downward pressure on prices if it continues.
• Apartment condominium prices in April totalled $250,400, comparable to last month, but over two percent below last year’s levels and nearly 17 percent below 2014 highs.

Attached

• Attached sales activity improved compared to last year’s levels for the second straight month, almost offsetting the declines occurring in the first two months of the year. Year-to-date sales were 1,113 units, nearly one percent below last year’s levels, and 14 percent below long-term averages.
• Year-to-date sales have improved in all districts except the City Centre, North West and West.
• Improved sales and easing listings have helped prevent further inventory gains in this sector and overall months of supply have trended down to five months.Following several months of prices trending down, semi-detached benchmark prices in April rose over the previous month. However, prices remain over five percent below last year’s levels at $395,300.
• Row prices were $284,900 in April, over five percent below last year’s levels.

For anyone who is interested in buying or selling during this interesting market period, we would love to help!

Download: Calgary Real Estate Statistics – April 2019