The resale housing markets in Calgary and most other Alberta centres saw some year-over-year improvement in January, says the monthly report from the Alberta Real Estate Association (AREA).
“Driven by gains across most of the larger centres in the province, except for Edmonton, year-over-year residential sales activity improved by over five percent in January,” says Ann- Marie Lurie, AREA chief economist and chief economist at the Calgary Real Estate Board.
There were a number of concerns weighing on consumers at the beginning of last year that impacted the resale housing markets, says Lurie.
“The economic situation has not changed significantly over the past year, but some of the concerns have eased and modest improvements in the fundamentals supporting the housing market have occurred,” she says. “Despite modest gains, it is important to note that conditions have shifted in the past five years and since the energy sector adjustment, we are left with a housing market that has slower levels of demand, higher amounts of inventory and prices that remain lower than 2014 highs.”
Lurie says January’s average prices improved compared to last year, but much of the gains are expected to be due to distributional shifts.
“Most regions reported improving sales in the higher end of the market, pulling up average prices,” she says. “However, the large markets of Calgary and Edmonton reported easing in benchmark prices, which is consistent with expectations given the current levels of oversupply in their respective markets.”
Here is Lurie’s overview of Alberta’s two largest cities.
Calgary Region
Housing market conditions continue to follow similar trends to last year. January sales activity improved by nearly 12 percent, while new listings fell by nearly eight percent. This contributed to a decline in inventory levels and caused the months of supply to fall to just over six months, a significant improvement from last year’s level of nearly eight months.
While conditions are improving, the housing market continues to favour the buyer, causing further price declines. However, as conditions start to adjust to a new normal, the pace of price decline is starting to ease.
Edmonton Region
January sales eased slightly compared to last year’s levels. Thanks to a significant decline in new listings, inventory levels eased, and the market saw the months of supply ease to under nine months, an improvement from last January’s level, which was nearly 10 months.
While the market remains oversupplied, both the average and median prices improved over the previous year, while the benchmark price eased. The improvements in average and median prices were likely driven by a shift in the distribution this month compared to last year as there was a jump in the number of higher-priced home sales.
