Calgary Housing Market to Simmer, not Sizzle - May 2010

Statistics released by the Calgary Real Estate Board indicates that the Calgary housing market continues a balanced pace in April of 2010.

Sales of single family homes in Calgary have increased by a 5 per cent over the same time a year ago in April. Condominium transactions have been outpacing single family homes with an increase of 10 per cent compared to twelve months ago in the Calgary real estate market.

Diane Scott, president of the Calgary Real Estate Board has said that - “Continued economic optimism, improved choice and price stability are all contributing to a healthy and balanced housing market in Calgary. Calgary’s housing market is set to simmer, not sizzle in 2010. We can be grateful that we are not facing any real danger of a housing bubble here in our market.”
 
Looking at the numbers in more detail, there were 1,352 single family homes sold in Calgary last month. This is a decrease of 3 per cent in March 2010 then 1,396 single family homes exchanged hands in the Calgary real estate market. In April of 2010, 639 condominiums have been sold vs. 609 units in March or a 5% month to month increase.

“There has been some talk about a bubble in some parts of Canada but the rapid price increases seen in Vancouver, Victoria and southern Ontario have not been seen in Calgary,” Scott acknowledges. “Single family house prices are coming back nicely compared to 2009,” says Scott.

Average Price of a Single family home in Calgary
• April 2010 - $460,378 (an increase of 8% compared to a year ago)
• March 2010 - $471,269
• April 2009 - $426,311

Average Price of a Condominium in Calgary
• April 2010 - $289,588 (an increase of 4% compared to a year ago)
• March 2010 - $296,660
• April 2009 - $277,953

Single family home listings in Calgary
• April 2010 – 3,082 (an increase of 53% compared to a year ago)
• March 2010 – 2,988
• April 2009 – 2,010

Condominium listings in Calgary
• April 2010 – 1,335 (an increase of 38% compared to a year ago)
• March 2010 - 1,376
• April 2009 – 967

Median Price of a Single family home in Calgary
• April 2010 - $417,000 (an increase of 10% compared to a year ago)
• March 2010 - $423,000
• April 2009 - $380,000

Median Price of a Condominium in Calgary
• April 2010 - $267,500 (an increase of 7% compared to a year ago)
• March 2010 - $275,000
• April 2009 - $251,000

All city of Calgary MLS® statistics include properties listed and sold only within Calgary’s city limits. The median price is the price that is midway between the least expensive and most expensive home sold in an area during a given period of time. During that time, half the buyers bought homes that cost more than the median price and half bought homes for less than the median price.

“Our average price is holding relatively steady,” says Scott. “The pace of price increase has been tempered by the rate of new listings that has been growing faster than sales. Sales levels are still well below the high demand from 2004-2008, mainly because we are still not seeing high job growth and unemployment has remained high.”

“Calgary didn’t see the impacts of the very low interest rates the way other areas of Canada did,” says Scott. “Calgarians are also not rushing out to beat the rate increases as they are seeing less risk of rising prices squeezing them out of the market.”

“In fact financially, Calgarians are in a very healthy position. Just over 37 per cent of our median pre-tax household income was needed to service the mortgage on a typical detached bungalow in Calgary—that’s below the national average,” says Scott.

Source: CREB

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Last updated on: 2012-05-17 00:22:34

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