City-wide prices hold steady as labour market improves.
City of Calgary, May 1, 2017 – Calgary’s housing market continued to show signs of stability in April. With improvements in the labour market and a balanced detached sector, city-wide benchmark prices reached $439,600 in April, similar to the previous month, but 0.90 per cent below last year’s levels.
While adjustments are still occurring in the apartment condominium sector, the detached segment of the market is improving across all price segments. “Detached product has not faced the same supply pressure as the apartment sector,” said CREB® chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie. “Detached supply from new construction didn’t surpass previous highs. That helped prevent steeper price adjustments in the detached sector when demand eased.”
“Improvements in the employment situation were necessary to prevent further declines in the housing sector,” said Lurie. “However, economic recovery is still expected to be slow, impacting the pace and quality of job growth. Based on current expectations this should translate into a more prolonged period of recovery in the housing market.”
Months of supply is trending down for all product types, but has remained elevated in the apartment sector, averaging 6.1 in the first quarter of the year compared to the 2.4 average in the detached sector.
For the first time this year the absorption rate for the City of Calgary Detached market segment decreased a little due to increased new listings. The City of Calgary Semi-Detached market segment continued to improve but the Row and Apartment segments absorption rates declined. The Detached market segment in both Airdrie and Cochrane declined but the Detached Okotoks market segment showed a significant improvement. This data shows how the real estate market performs differently in each market segment.
For those who are considering taking advantage of the low interest rates to invest in real estate there are still several market segments with lower absorption rates to choose from. If you are interested in an investment strategy specific to your needs please contact us. We would love to help!
Susanita de Diego
