Boom and Slightly Less Boom
It should come as no surprise to readers of this space that 2013 is on track to set a sales record, with well over $9 billion in sales being transacted; to date, the city has seen nearly $7 billion in real estate changing hands. Resale prices are up, and people are still buying, thanks to some very solid employment numbers (we’re one of the country’s only bright points on that front), relative affordability (especially in the condo market), forced moves due to the flood, and just the general appeal of our city to people from all over. Calgary’s a place where you can get a good job and raise a family without too much fear of the bottom falling out of your lifestyle.
So, of course, there’s gotta be the end times coming, and naysayers point to a slowdown in the purchase of land for new properties to show that they’re almost here. Call me optimistic, but I just don’t buy that as proof that we’re in a bubble about to burst. Developers have bought up huge swaths of land recently to keep up with the demand in our hot seller’s market, but they still recognize that the country’s fragile economy will likely lead to some ebbs and flows. So the houses get built, they sell, then new rounds of purchasing can begin. While suggestions that land purchases have dropped more than 50 percent in Calgary year-over-year may sound alarming, the other way to look at that is there was a lot of land bought up last year that’s becoming homes sold this year.
Real estate markets cycle, they don’t generally boom and bust without outside factors manipulating them (as was the case in the US some years ago). So, as I seem to say often around here, take the alarmist news with a healthy dose of skepticism.
Tags: boom time, calgary alberta real estate, calgary real estate, calgary real estate market, calgary real estate resale, calgary real estate statistics, real estate boom, Real Estate Forecasting, real estate market, real estate records, real estate trends
