Calgary Real Estate Blog

So our economy is turning around as expected in 2017, with the Conference Board of Canada forecasting Alberta to lead the country in economic growth for the year. Oil prices have stabilized, and flowing infrastructure money is helping to create jobs, as is a lowered small business tax rate. All of that adds up to a little more consumer confidence, a little less financial nervousness, and maybe fewer homes on the market.

While Calgary’s real estate landscape never really became over saturated, we did see a large uptick in the numbers as financial realities led owners to downsize. That impetus is waning. Still, it will likely take a couple of years before higher end properties become as sought after as they were a few years ago; the sweet spot is really right around the $430,000-$500,000 mark for quick sales at or near asking price. According to the Calgary Real Estate Board, the communities that had the most sales last year were Tuscany, Evanston, New Brighton, Copperfield, Coventry Hills, Cranston, Auburn Bay, and Evergreen: all of which have plenty of inventory in that mid-range pricing category for detached single family homes.

So, If you’re looking at making an upwards move, now’s a good time to start strategizing. Pricing is stable overall, but if there’s any softness it’s going to be in the higher priced homes. Put a little work into staging your average sized property and making it present at its best, and while we’re not in bidding war territory yet, you’re likely to get a very respectable return. Spring is right around the corner, and is the time of year many people start thinking about making a move, so now’s the time to start preparing if you’re considering a jump into the sales market. I am well experienced in making this kind of upward move, and would be happy to help you formulate a plan – contact me today to get started!

Even as Calgary’s home market continues to slow, bit by bit, we’re seeing a remarkable increase in the number of homes on the market – supply is up nearly 24 percent from a year ago. This completely makes sense: there’s a wide variety of homes in styles and price ranges to suit nearly every potential buyer in neighbourhoods across the city, and that’s making homeowners who maybe weren’t even planning to move get the upgrade bug, so they put their own property on the market to see if it’ll sell. Add in our economic troubles forcing some to downsize, and you’ve got an abundance of supply.

This can, and is, leading to an expectation gap between some buyers and sellers. While some sellers are still hoping to get prices in the range they might’ve seen a year or two ago, thrifty buyers are using the current situation to pressure for deep discounts. It’s a bit of an impasse that may take some time to smooth out.

So what’s a person to do? My advice is this: if you’re looking to sell, you may need to, as Calgary Real Estate Board president Cliff Stephenson put it recently, “lower your expectations on price.” Calgary’s real estate market remains very healthy and sustainable, but you can’t grow the inventory the way ours has in the past several months without putting downward pressure on asking prices. Consider how quickly you’d like your property to sell, as attractive pricing can help a home stand out in today’s market. There’s no need to drastically undervalue your listing, but you’re not going to get 2014 prices today.

For buyers, don’t expect a fire sale mentality amongst sellers, as our market’s just not there. While there’s a lot to choose from, benchmark prices really haven’t dropped that much, and mid-range homes are still changing hands in a couple of weeks. While there may be a bit more wiggle room than there would’ve been last year, appealing properties are still highly sought after, and bidding wars are not out of the question.

Overall, our market continues to adjust to the new reality, but the fact that it remains relatively stable is a testament to how healthy and realistic it has remained over the past several years. As our economy improves over the rest of the year, we may see some of the downward pressure let up, but really what happens next remains to be seen.

Contact me today for a comparative market analysis today!

Not at all unsurprisingly, according to the Calgary Real Estate Board’s most recent statistics the tide is starting to turn with regard to supply and demand in the city’s market. More specifically, June 2014 saw nearly 30 percent more new listings added than one year earlier. As homeowners see their neighbours’ properties selling in days for above asking price, it’s only natural that they’d think about listing themselves.

Interestingly, however, Calgary’s surrounding towns are also seeing a boom. Cochrane and Okotoks are becoming prime locations for commuters looking to stretch their home buying dollar by a few percent; sales in Airdrie are up a whopping 40 percent year-over-year.

Add these communities’ properties to our own market, and there are more and more homes for buyers to choose from, which will inevitably cause prices to plateau at some point. I highly doubt we’ll see any significant downward pressure on prices – with Calgary’s population growing by more than 4 percent every year, we’ll have plenty of people looking to buy for the foreseeable future – but if the growth dials down a bit, it might be a little easier for those looking to sell and move up to calculate what they’ll be able to afford.

The New Year is off to a great start in the real estate market, with the Calgary Real Estate Board predicting strong growth in both prices and the number of newly-built homes. While that’s a familiar-sounding tune these days, we’re coming off a year that saw more than 12 percent growth in the number of sales made with prices rising by six percent; to see sales increase by what’s predicted to be a little under four percent from last year is a really impressive sign of a healthy, robust market.

With interest rates now predicted to remain low for the foreseeable future (as opposed to the ‘there’re going up next month!’ prognostications we’ve been hearing for the last few years), this is an good time to build your ideal property or find a great resale home to move up into. A couple weeks ago I posted about some things you can do around your home to get it in saleable condition; I recommend having another read of that, and make a game plan if you want to enter the market in the spring. A few touch-ups can really affect your bottom line, which in turn will help you get that new home you want.

Want a personal, no-obligation evaluation of what we could sell your home for today, and what you could do to sell it for more? Contact me!

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.

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!

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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!

The old real estate adage concerning success in business – “Location, Location, Location” – works only when you know a bit about the location in question; guessing just doesn’t cut it. Agents specializing in commercial real estate marinate in demographics on a daily basis, and now a new tool from the Calgary Regional Partnership can help out. The website, ExploreCalgaryRegion.ca, is intended to provide detailed breakdowns of individual areas along with available commercial real estate opportunities.

From the press release: “ExploreCalgaryRegion.ca is available free and instantly for access to industrial and commercial real estate in the Calgary Region, along with a database of available properties with images. The new website provides immediate access to critical business intelligence that decision makers need to make an investment decision in the Calgary Region.”

While not necessarily the easiest website in the world to use, there’s a lot of information at one’s fingertips here, and I can only imagine its usability will improve with time. This thing just launched a few days ago, after all, and it’s intended for a more specific audience than the general public (but it’s fun for you and I to play with too, depending on how you define fun). The Calgary Real Estate Board has expressed interest in the site as a valuable tool to help commercial Realtors respond quickly to their clients’ needs.

The Calgary Real Estate Board (CREB) released its annual forecast for 2013 today, predicting a market that continues to grow but at a slower pace than 2012’s levels. Taking into account employment trends and constraints on the oil sector, CREB suggests we can expect sales in Calgary to grow 2.2 percent this year, with house prices going up nearly three percent.

In their 2012 forecast, CREB predicted a 12 percent sales increase, with prices going up two percent; we ended up with a nearly 19 percent sales jump and a 2.3 percent rise in prices.