CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES

Calgary MLS sales top year-ago levels

First time since April 2010
By Mario Toneguzzi 
June 30, 2011

CALGARY — For the first month since April 2010, MLS sales in both the single-family and condominium markets in Calgary will show year-over-year increases in June.

According to preliminary data by realtor Mike Fotiou, of First Place Realty, from June 1 to June 28, there were 1,267 single-family MLS transactions in the city and 531 condo sales, topping the entire month of June 2010 sales for each category.

A year ago this month, there were 1,061 single-family home sales and 445 condo sales.

Christina Hagerty, a realtor with RE/MAX Realty Professionals, said the industry started feeling a resurgence in the real estate market in the last quarter of 2010.

“Unlike many other parts of the world, Canada, and in particular, Alberta is a safe and stable place to call home,” she said, adding demands in the oil and gas industry will lead to more people coming here for work.

“The inner city is usually the last to feel any downturn and the first to recover. Now, more than we’ve felt in a while, people are moving. Expats from the U.K., U.S. and other areas across the country ... are coming here.”

So far in June, the average MLS sale price for a single-family home is $476,413, down slightly from June 2010’s average of $481,964, according to Fotiou’s preliminary, unofficial data. The condo average sale price this month was $297,984, up from $292,238 a year ago.

Hagerty said phones are busier today. Builders are confident to start building homes again. And conditionally sold and sold stickers “dot the streets.”

Photo By: Cuppojoe