'New kids' fuelling recovery
Average resale price set to rise to $470,000
Marty Hope, Calgary Herald
Published: Saturday, January 23, 2010
Pent-up demand for resale housing that bubbled to the surface midway through 2009 will continue to be a factor this year, says the new president of the Calgary Real Estate Board.
In her inaugural address to the city's real estate industry, Diane Scott said sales, prices and listings will continue to increase as the local economy and consumer confidence rebounds from the recession.
It's the "new kids on the block" -- the 25-to 34-year-olds who helped fuel the recovery in the latter half of last year -- that will continue to fuel the 2010 market, she said.
Scott, who is broker/owner of Royal LePage Solutions Inc., said the average price of detached homes within Calgary's city limits will likely move up slightly more than six per cent this year to $470,000.
At the same time, Scott predicted there will be 17,000 resale homes changing hands, an increase of 17 per cent -- while the number of new listings will likely rise to 25,0000, up from nearly 22,500 in 2009.
The average price of condos will also likely climb this year, going to $296,000 from a year-end average of $283,734 in 2009, said Scott.
Sales will likely grow by 10.6 per cent to 7,000, she said, predicting that listings will likely increase to 10,750 this year, up from 10,323 last year.
"Single-family resale prices will again outpace condos in 2010, as equity gains from pre-2006 will enable move-up buyers to afford more," said Scott, a 30-year veteran of Calgary's real estate industry. "Consequently, the price gap between single-family homes and condominiums will continue to widen for the short term."
For young buyers, low mortgage rates and relatively low prices provided the impetus to get into home ownership, said Scott, who opened her real estate business last February.
"Affordability has been the silver lining in last year's housing market, even in the face of slowing wage growth," she said.
For the previous two years, first-timers had been pretty much shunted to the sidelines until the market turnaround in 2009.
From having a maximum buying power of about $250,000, families found that with the mortgage rates slipping to 50-year lows, their buying power went as high as $375,000, said Scott.
"In two years, (the market) has gone from sizzle to fizzle to simmer -- and today, the market has entered a more balanced and stable condition," she said.
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RESALE HOUSING MARKET
2009 2010
Single-detached homes*
-Sales 14,440 17,000
-Listings 22,459 25,000
-Average price $442,327 $470,000
Condominiums*
-Sales 6,328 7,000
-Listings 10,323 10,750
-Average price $283,734 $296,000
Towns
-Sales 3,943 4,500
-Listings 8,502 8,000
-Average price $352,704 $364,000
- Metro
Average resale price set to rise to $470,000
Marty Hope, Calgary Herald
Published: Saturday, January 23, 2010
Pent-up demand for resale housing that bubbled to the surface midway through 2009 will continue to be a factor this year, says the new president of the Calgary Real Estate Board.
In her inaugural address to the city's real estate industry, Diane Scott said sales, prices and listings will continue to increase as the local economy and consumer confidence rebounds from the recession.
It's the "new kids on the block" -- the 25-to 34-year-olds who helped fuel the recovery in the latter half of last year -- that will continue to fuel the 2010 market, she said.
Scott, who is broker/owner of Royal LePage Solutions Inc., said the average price of detached homes within Calgary's city limits will likely move up slightly more than six per cent this year to $470,000.
At the same time, Scott predicted there will be 17,000 resale homes changing hands, an increase of 17 per cent -- while the number of new listings will likely rise to 25,0000, up from nearly 22,500 in 2009.
The average price of condos will also likely climb this year, going to $296,000 from a year-end average of $283,734 in 2009, said Scott.
Sales will likely grow by 10.6 per cent to 7,000, she said, predicting that listings will likely increase to 10,750 this year, up from 10,323 last year.
"Single-family resale prices will again outpace condos in 2010, as equity gains from pre-2006 will enable move-up buyers to afford more," said Scott, a 30-year veteran of Calgary's real estate industry. "Consequently, the price gap between single-family homes and condominiums will continue to widen for the short term."
For young buyers, low mortgage rates and relatively low prices provided the impetus to get into home ownership, said Scott, who opened her real estate business last February.
"Affordability has been the silver lining in last year's housing market, even in the face of slowing wage growth," she said.
For the previous two years, first-timers had been pretty much shunted to the sidelines until the market turnaround in 2009.
From having a maximum buying power of about $250,000, families found that with the mortgage rates slipping to 50-year lows, their buying power went as high as $375,000, said Scott.
"In two years, (the market) has gone from sizzle to fizzle to simmer -- and today, the market has entered a more balanced and stable condition," she said.
---------
RESALE HOUSING MARKET
2009 2010
Single-detached homes*
-Sales 14,440 17,000
-Listings 22,459 25,000
-Average price $442,327 $470,000
Condominiums*
-Sales 6,328 7,000
-Listings 10,323 10,750
-Average price $283,734 $296,000
Towns
-Sales 3,943 4,500
-Listings 8,502 8,000
-Average price $352,704 $364,000
- Metro
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