City of Calgary, December 1, 2016 – Coming off a month of stronger sales activity, November’s housing market returned to previous trends. Year-over-year monthly sales totaled 1,227 units, which is nearly three per cent lower than last year and 17 per cent below long-term averages. “November was the first full month with CMHC’s new lending rules in effect,” said CREB® chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie. “As suspected, the gains in last month’s sales were temporary. Stringent conditions for borrowers are converging with the current economic climate and weighing on demand.” While supply levels eased in November, the decline in sales resulted in a slight rise in months of supply. This caused benchmark home prices to contract even further. City-wide prices totaled $436,200 in November, a 0.6 per cent decline over the previous month and nearly 4.1 per cent below last year’s levels.
Detached home prices totaled $498,300 in November, making it the first time since early 2014 that the monthly benchmark price dipped below $500,000. Despite this price change, the detached resale sector has still fared better than most of the high density sectors, as it has not faced the same city-wide inventory pressure coming from the new home market.
Year-to-date detached sales have declined by three per cent compared to last year, but have also seen some modest improvements in recent months in the high end of the market, which is likely a by-product of larger price adjustments.
While overall sales activity continues to slow in the attached segment, there was a sharp contrast in the number of transactions for row and semi-detached product. Year-to-date semi-detached sales have improved over by nearly 3 per cent over the previous year, mostly due to gains in the $300,000 to $399,999 and $600,000 to $699,999 range of the market. However, row sales have declined by over 12 per cent over the same time frame.
The market segment that has seen the largest price correction is the “row” segment, making this a great time to invest.
The best time to buy is when there is a lot of inventory from which to choose. For those who are considering taking advantage of the low interest rates to invest in real estate there are several market segments with low 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!
Hope this helps!
Susanita de Diego
Download: Calgary Real Estate Stats November 2016
