CALGARY TOPS IN GROWTH

Calgary leads country in housing market price growth
Prices up nearly 7% from last year
By Mario Toneguzzi
Calgary Herald August 15, 2013

CALGARY — Calgary led the country in July with the best year-over-year price growth in the resale housing market.

The Canadian Real Estate Association’s MLS Home Price Index, released Thursday, indicated prices in Calgary were up 6.79 per cent — more than doubling the national aggregate of 2.66 per cent price growth.

The index measures the rate at which housing prices change over time taking into account the type of homes sold. Nine major Canadian centres are surveyed.

“Our market is trending towards a selling market. Listing inventory is 20 per cent lower than this time last year and pricing is approximately seven per cent higher overall,” said Tanya Eklund, with RE/MAX Real Estate (Central) in Calgary. “The Calgary floods created a short-term surge in house purchases in certain areas. People who could afford to buy have purchased, so their families were not displaced. Due to the very low vacancy rate, rental inflation and difficulty in finding rental accommodation, this made some consumers turn to purchasing instead of renting.

“We are seeing many inner-city communities flourish with sales, however I am seeing certain suburb markets higher in inventory in the plus $1 million, so sales have not been as abundant as other communities closer to the interior of the city. Overall, it appears to be a great time to sell. Buyers have less time to think about their purchases with hopes of not losing out on their ideal home. I am confident we will continue to see a stable real estate market as we enter into the fall.”

CREA stats indicated Calgary MLS sales in July of 2,976 were up 18.9 per cent from last year while the average sale price jumped by 7.0 per cent to $438,192.

Across Canada, sales were up by 9.4 per cent to 44,829 units and the average price rose by 8.4 per cent to $382,373.

In Alberta, transactions increased by 17.8 per cent to 6,853 units while the average price was up by 4.3 per cent to $379,696.

“Canadian home sales have staged a bit of a recovery in recent months after having declined in the wake of tightened mortgage rules and lending guidelines last year, but the numbers for July suggest that national activity is levelling off at what might best be described as average levels,” said Gregory Klump, CREA’s chief economist. “Sales dropped sharply in August last year, so we may see some year-over-year increases in sales and average prices next month that would reflect weakness in the rear view mirror.”

Sales and prices in Calgary are continuing their upward trend in August. According to the Calgary Real Estate Board, month-to-date until Wednesday, total MLS sales of 945 were 32.17 per cent higher than the same period last year and the average sale price was up 13 per cent to $455,688.
In another report released Thursday, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. forecast MLS sales in the Calgary census metropolitan area to rise to 27,800 transactions this year from 26,634 in 2012. Sales are expected to jump to 28,300 in 2014.

The agency forecast the average MLS sale price in the Calgary region to rise from $412,315 in 2012 to $435,000 in 2013 and to $445,000 in 2014.

Nationally, the CMHC’s point forecast is for MLS sales across Canada to decline from 453,372 in 2012 to 448,900 this year and then rise to 467,600 in 2014.

The national average sale price is expected to see year-over-year growth of 2.7 per cent this year to $374,800 followed by an increase of 2.1 per cent in 2014 to $382,800.