The Calgary Board of Real Estate notes in their January report, "as oversupply continues in Calgary’s housing market, December prices eased by one per cent compared to last month and are over three per cent below last December." This summary of what happened in the final month of 2018 paints a bleak picture of December, which hopefully ended a difficult year in the real estate; though still better than others. Our hopes are that we see even more improvement in 2019!
Here are the highlights from their statistics summary:
- December sales totalled 794 units. This is a 21% decline compared to December of 2017.
- Year-to-date sales in the city totalled 16,144 units. This is 20% below long-term averages and about 14% less than in 2017.
- Inventory in December was 4,904 units. This is much more than the inventory levels from 2017 and, again, about 30% over typical levels for the month of December. The largest inventory gains were seen in the detached and attached housing.
- In December, the months of supply was an average of 5.2 months.
- The annual benchmark price for a home in Calgary declined by 1.5%.
“Persistent weakness in the job market and changes in the lending market impacted sales activity in the resale market this year. This contributed to elevated supply in the resale market, resulting in price declines.” - CREB® Chief Economist Ann-Marie Lurie.
“Both buyers and sellers faced adjustments in expectations this year. Sellers had to compete with more choice in the resale market, but also the new-home market. With less people looking for a home, it became a choice between delaying when to sell or adjusting the sale price. However, buyers looking for more affordable product did not find the same price adjustments that existed in some of the higher price ranges.” - CREB® President Tom Westcott.
The Calgary Real Estate Board is holding a conference at the very end of the month to give more information on what happened and why it happened in the market in 2018, along with their predictions for the year ahead. You can visit our blog at the start of February for a break down of what they had to say.
In the meantime, if you have any questions please call me directly at 403-630-6363.