The summer is typically a popular time for those hoping to buy and/or sell a property. With school in hiatus for the summer, backyards emerging from their snowy slumber, and vacation days stored up, many people take advantage of the time and begin their real estate journey. This is the summer trend.
If there was one word to describe the real estate market this July, it would be “consistent.” Nothing out of the norm happened. It stayed consistent with typical summer trends. While this may seem dull, it is a sigh of relief for Calgarians who have still been nervous about the market after the oil crash back at the start of the year.
Sales activity for the month of July was consistent of the 10 year average. The declines we previously saw in residential housing sales balanced out in July. Inventory levels remained stable. All of this meant that there was no change in the month-over-month price: benchmark prices sit at around “$455,400.Again, this calming news to everyone who has feared that Calgary has not seen the worst of the effects of the crash yet.
CREB® chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie reports,“Calgary has recorded significant gains in home prices over the past several years…Despite the recent retraction, we have not seen all those previous gains eroded.”
Benchmark prices have remained resilient throughout the changes of the market, however we have seen a 0.15 per cent annual decline. This is the first time in a long time that benchmark prices in Calgary have started to lower annually.
One area of the market to keep your eye on is the apartment sector. Inventory is high, and while that has placed some downward pressure on benchmark prices, for the most part the sector remains fairly balanced. CREB® president Corinne Lyall shares, “some buyers expect they will get major price reductions in this market, but that’s not always the case. In some areas, supply levels are more balanced with demand and that creates price stability.” That being said, don’t rush into anything.
Overall, July was consistent with predictions and presented another stable month for the Calgary real estate market.
Posted by Ken Richter on
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