Calgary Real Estate Blog

With relatively low inventories – and not just because of flood damage – the Calgary real estate market is on fire right now. The Calgary Herald reports that condos, bungalows, and two-storey homes have all increased in price by 6 to 7 percent in the second quarter, year-over-year, as listings regularly receive multiple offers. The flood certainly didn’t help with the inventory crunch, but the overall trends shouldn’t be affected long-term by that mess; this isn’t a short term blip, it’s a larger trend.

And it’s not just the common-man homes that are moving: a record number of $4 million-plus homes have been sold so-far in July (and it’s only the 9th). There’s more inventory available in the luxury market, and the higher prices and low availability of mid-range homes, combined with interest rates that look like they’ll stay low for another couple of years, are all factors encouraging people looking to move up.

So, if you’re thinking about selling your present home and move into something larger, be prepared to act fast once you find that perfect place. And have a solid idea of the maximum you’re willing to spend – those susceptible to getting caught up in a bidding war could take a hit in today’s market. Smart buyers approaching transactions logically and not emotionally, however, should still be able to find the right home at the right price.

Yet another good news article about Calgary’s real estate market: we saw more than a 10 percent jump in sales from March to April, as opposed to the national trend going down more than three percent in the same period. And this is just the beginning.

Spring is obviously the time new home developers start churning out properties, and despite what the noisemakers might have you believe, there is plenty of land already approved for community growth. New home builds will probably be plentiful, and marketing aggressive. As housing prices continue their steady climb upwards, we can expect lots more existing properties to go on sale with some people looking to move up, and others downsizing.

If you’re thinking about making a move, it’s a good time to sell – prices going up – but also a good time to buy thanks to the copious inventory. Things usually aren’t so balanced, but so it goes in Calgary. I can help you sort it all out – contact me for more information.

The Calgary Real Estate Board monthly reviews the market to determine a benchmark price, which is the price of a typical single-family home in the city (as opposed to an average, which can be skewed when properties like Iginla’s mansion sell). The benchmark price in Calgary for April hit just under $453,000, which snatches the record high from 2007’s booming jaws. The Calgary Herald did a good job running down many of the factors influencing Calgary’s staggering market growth, but what makes me happy is how organically the growth is occurring: there’s no oil boom making people lose their minds or lax regulations letting anyone and his dog qualify for a mortgage. Instead, it’s simply our city being an attractive place to live and work, and there being more jobs to go around then elsewhere.

April was the best sales month I’ve had in my 13-year career, and while each month likely won’t be able to top the last, there are no signs of things slowing down. This is a good time to sell your home – a sellers market – so don’t be shy about giving me a call to explore what your home might be worth.

There’s been some talk lately about why Calgary’s market isn’t booming like it did in 2006-07, when our employment and population growth is similarly exceptional now. While there may be some truth to self-proclaimed experts’ notions that homebuyers are a bit more cautious than they used to be, and that stricter mortgage rules are proving to be a greater barrier to entry in the market, the fact is that I have more listings right now than I have at any one time in my career, and things show no sign of easing up; I’d better go buy some more key boxes. House prices in Calgary are growing at three times the national average (and our commercial real estate market is performing better than anywhere else in the world). This is the best place to be selling a home in the country (and not only because my dad and I work here).

Of course, enthusiasm must be tempered, both to maintain a little perspective and to add a little variety to newspaper articles. But the fact is we are in a great, enviable position right now with a market that’s growing at a healthy and sustainable pace, and that looks to continue on the same path for the foreseeable future. The bidding wars we were seeing a few years ago aren’t nearly as common, yet houses aren’t sitting on the market for months at a time either; buyers are motivated but not bloodthirsty. This is a good thing. Give me a steady upward march over boom-and-bust craziness any day of the week.

I mentioned this in a previous post, but it bears repeating: the Alberta government is seeking public input on ways the Condominium Property Act can be improved through a survey available until May 2. As was discussed in the Calgary Herald on Tuesday, plenty of people have had less than stellar experiences with condo boards, builders, contractors, and the like (although many, many more have never had a problem with their condo or condo board), and there may be ways the Condominium Property Act can be updated to better reflect current realities. It’s been 13 years since the Act was last revised; in that time, tens of thousands of units have been built and their average price has tripled. Our market’s not the same as it was in Y2K – help the government figure out what’s changed, and make things better for buyers, sellers, and builders alike.

This comes as no surprise for me!  The latest CTV news article, Decrease in listings increases demand for Calgary homes, outlines some of the reasons why this year is proving to be a hot one for real estate sales.  There are nearly 20 percent less home listed compared to the same time last year, which is driving prices upwards and days on market downwards.

As our city sprawls out there is also increasing demand for inner-city property.  The Calgary Herald recent posted an article stating that inner-city neighbourhoods saw an increase of 250-260% between 2000-2012.

If you want to take advantage of this market contact me today!

Fill in our free Market Report request to receive monthly email reports detailing all the sales in your neighbourhood, including photos & addresses.

I’ve been talking a lot in this space about how Calgary’s housing market is outperforming all comers; well, here’s more proof: we broke a record in February for the highest average selling price for single family homes. The figure, $518,452, comes in a little over two percent higher than the previous record set in 2007 (also known as Calgary’s most recent boom). Now, of course there are extenuating factors coming into play here – notably the fact that the all-time most expensive home sale in the city’s history closed last month, as did a record number of other $1 million plus sales – so CREB’s benchmark numbers are maybe a little more useful when determining what the average Calgarian entering the market is looking at. Those put the typical single-family home at about $440,000, which is still close to $90,000 more than January’s national average.

So is Calgary’s market on-track to price itself out of reach for the average young family looking for a starter home? I don’t think so. The vast diversity of neighbourhoods – and their proximity to downtown – available to residents ensures there’s a price point for everyone, and as Mayor Nenshi wrote in the Herald last weekend, more than 22 square kilometres of serviced land are available for new development, enough to house hundreds of thousands of people at fair prices.

This has already been a banner year for me, and it’s only March; the proverbial sun is shining, so I’m making some hay. I did, however, find the time to add some new functionality to our website: our new, free Market Report tool allows you to see your neighbourhood’s detailed sales history, including addresses and prices. Check it out!

Despite the attention-grabbing headline – “Calgary housing market ‘seriously unaffordable’ – the Calgary Herald’s story from a couple days ago on the latest Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey (DIHAS) isn’t dire news. For nine years running, this survey has measured something called the median multiple across more than 300 cities around the world, and ranks them for affordability. The median multiple is calculated by dividing median house prices in the area by residents’ median before-tax income, and this year Calgary’s median multiple was 4.3, which the organization calls ‘seriously unaffordable’.

Interestingly, the article goes on to cite an RBC Economics Research study showing the Calgary market hit its most affordable levels in years in Q3 2012, the same quarter the DIHAS looked at.

So what’s going on here? If Calgary’s market is so unaffordable, why are sales already up more than ten percent, year-over-year (and why am I so rarely at home watching TV with my wife in the evenings)? Calgary’s luxury market had a record year in 2012, with 544 homes selling for more than $1 million; that beats 2007’s record high by nearly 100 sales, and would skew the median multiple at least a bit. So, perhaps there’s a flaw in the methods used to compile the DIHAS, and perhaps ‘the Alberta Advantage’ makes us a fairly unique case. Taxes in the province are extremely low (some would say too low), and that means the difference between pre-tax and post-tax income for Calgarians is not the same as in, say, Vancouver. Combine that with continued bargain basement interest rates, and we’ve still got a pretty attractive environment in which families can find a place to make their own. Are houses here more expensive here than they used to be? Sure they are. To deem them ‘seriously unaffordable’, given all the angles and not just median income, though, seems like a stretch.