Realtors say they’re seeing a significant uptick in out-of-province buyers snatching up homes in Calgary.
The city’s real estate market has been hot for the past six months, seeing unusually high levels of action.
Some of that heat is coming from Ontarians and B.C. residents, among others, deciding to make a new home in Alberta or to buy investment properties here.
“A lot of folks I work with come through on my website and we’re probably seeing maybe 40-50 per cent of those are from out of province,” said Adam Sharek, a Realtor with CIR Realty.
“It’s something I haven’t really experienced in my nine years in real estate.”
Sharek says the trend really started to be noticeable in the final months of 2021 — and he isn’t the only one seeing a shift in real estate clientele.
Lower prices surprise out-of-province buyers
Adil Thobani, one of Sharek’s colleagues, says on average about 10 per cent of his clients are from outside Alberta. That breakdown is now closer to 30 per cent — many of them cashing in on expensive properties in Vancouver and Toronto, looking for more house for less money.
“Whether they’re looking for investment — some are actually moving either back to Calgary or for the first time to Calgary because their family is here — they’re shocked that they can pick up these sizes of houses at this price,” Thobani said.
Year-to-date total property sales in Calgary are already up almost 40 per cent over the same point last year, from 9,217 to 12,859. According to the Calgary Real Estate Board, prices are up and the average length of time a house sits on the market is shrinking. Home sales in 2021 were 71 per cent higher than in 2020.
The board’s forecast report for 2022 shows sales activity improved across all major centres in the province, but the largest gains occurred in Calgary.
More people moving to Calgary
“Interprovincial migration from other provinces has flipped back positive in the past few quarters,” Michael Mak, a senior analyst for the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, told CBC News.
“So there is evidence of people from other provinces moving into Alberta and, of course, moving into Calgary.”
Data from the Government of Alberta shows net interprovincial migration in the last quarter of 2021 was 3,451, with international migration at 9,489.
Alberta led the country in interprovincial migration in the last three months of the year. That’s the first time since 2015 that Alberta has led a quarter.
On a net basis, the majority of Alberta’s new interprovincial migrants in the fourth quarter came from Ontario.
The average home price in Calgary now is around $535,000, a far cry from the average of $1.3 million in Toronto.
Mak says house prices in Calgary are likely to remain stable but added the market is likely to level off a little as more supply comes online to match the demand.
TORONTO – One expert predicts Ottawa‘s changes to mortgage rules will help spur demand among potential homebuyers but says policies aimed at driving new supply are needed to address the “core issues” facing the market.
The federal government’s changes, set to come into force mid-December, include a higher price cap for insured mortgages to allow more people to qualify for a mortgage with less than a 20 per cent down payment.
The government will also expand its 30-year mortgage amortization to include first-time homebuyers buying any type of home, as well as anybody buying a newly built home.
CIBC Capital Markets deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal calls it a “significant” move likely to accelerate the recovery of the housing market, a process already underway as interest rates have begun to fall.
However, he says in a note that policymakers should aim to “prevent that from becoming too much of a good thing” through policies geared toward the supply side.
Tal says the main issue is the lack of supply available to respond to Canada’s rapidly increasing population, particularly in major cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17,2024.
OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association says the number of homes sold in August fell compared with a year ago as the market remained largely stuck in a holding pattern despite borrowing costs beginning to come down.
The association says the number of homes sold in August fell 2.1 per cent compared with the same month last year.
On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, national home sales edged up 1.3 per cent from July.
CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says that with forecasts of lower interest rates throughout the rest of this year and into 2025, “it makes sense that prospective buyers might continue to hold off for improved affordability, especially since prices are still well behaved in most of the country.”
The national average sale price for August amounted to $649,100, a 0.1 per cent increase compared with a year earlier.
The number of newly listed properties was up 1.1 per cent month-over-month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Two Quebec real estate brokers are facing fines and years-long suspensions for submitting bogus offers on homes to drive up prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christine Girouard has been suspended for 14 years and her business partner, Jonathan Dauphinais-Fortin, has been suspended for nine years after Quebec’s authority of real estate brokerage found they used fake bids to get buyers to raise their offers.
Girouard is a well-known broker who previously starred on a Quebec reality show that follows top real estate agents in the province.
She is facing a fine of $50,000, while Dauphinais-Fortin has been fined $10,000.
The two brokers were suspended in May 2023 after La Presse published an article about their practices.
One buyer ended up paying $40,000 more than his initial offer in 2022 after Girouard and Dauphinais-Fortin concocted a second bid on the house he wanted to buy.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
