Can you believe it’s already 2016? It seems like just yesterday it was 2012. 2016 has a lot of promise, full of adventures and changes that we are really looking forward to. In the meantime, we have a review of what happened in the housing market during the last month of 2015, December.
While December is a great month to close on a house sale to squeeze in end of the year tax savings and take advantage of builders wanting to get rid of inventory, this December’s market slowed down. With Calgary’s economic condition borderline critical, December did not leave room for massive purchases. That on top of the money people were already spending on gifts and parties for the holidays left little room for the housing market to flourish.
The CREB® housing summary for december states, “December sales activity slowed to 878 units in the city, 18 per cent below last year at this time and well below the five and 10-year averages. As a result, the unadjusted benchmark price dipped to $448,800, a 0.42 per cent decline over the previous month and 2.33 year over year.” What does this mean for you? If you can buy, now is a good time to do so.
While this drop in sales is below yearly averages, it definitely is not as bad as what was predicted for 2015 when Alberta’s economy took a massive hit last January with the fall of the oil sector. This is because in late 2014, supply levels were low. This provided a cushion for absorbing the extra inventory that was created due to a lack of sales. If there was an ideal way for the housing market to take a hit, this was it.
Overall, what were the December trends in the market? “December showed that buyers in this market are continuing to be much more cautious as the impact of further oil price declines weighs on their confidence,” said CREB® president Corinne Lyall. “Some sellers, meanwhile, are concerned about what supply levels may look like next year and are not delaying their decisions.”
Later this month we will be giving you a detailed analysis of what the housing market is forecasted to look like for 2016, so stay tuned!
As always, we recommend setting up a meeting with us so we can explain things to you in more detail and discuss how it affects your personal goals.
We hope that you have a wonderful new year, we can’t wait to begin working with you!
Posted by Ken Richter on
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