The month of November is always a gap month between fall festivities and Halloween gimmicks, and wintertime activities and Christmas celebrations! November seems to have flown by this year, much to the delight of everyone who dreams of time off work and school. While the Christmas season is well underway, complete with constant carols and ads for the perfect gift, there is one last thing from November that we need to take care of: the Calgary real estate statistics.
The Calgary real estate scene has been a seller’s market for a long time now: with a low number of properties on the market, sellers are at the advantage because they do not have an incredible amount of competition. Rather, buyers had to compete in order to win the bid on the properties they desired. This meant that prices were high, and options were limited.
However, November has seen a turn of events. Although the market is still slightly out of balance, November saw an optimistic turn towards a buyers market. This means that with more properties available, prices will drop and buyers will have more options! There was a twenty-two percent year-over-year rise in inventory this Novemeber! CREB President Bill Kirk claims that, “Over the past year inventories have been low in the city, limiting some of the choice for consumers. While availability in specific segments and price ranges vary, on the whole, the recent rise in inventories will be welcome news for many buyers.”
The demand for increased inventory comes from steady economic growth in Calgary. Employment opportunities and high wages have “encouraged people to move here, supporting the demand for growth in [the] housing sector ” (Ann-Marie Lurie, CREB chief economist.
November also saw growth in year-to-date sales in all housing sectors, reaching double-digit gains!
Ann-Marie Lurie adds that, “While Calgary’s price gains have garnered a significant amount of national attention, several indicators are pointing toward more stable conditions, easing risk associated with an overheating market.”
As we have mentioned before, balance is key to a healthy, thriving real estate market! For the first time in awhile, Calgary is moving into more balanced conditions, making it an excellent city to rent, buy, or sell in!
If you would like to know more about understanding the market and making sound predictions for where it will go, check out one of our past articles on it:http://blog.kenrichter.com/2014/10/28/predicting-the-market/#sthash.zoloI1GH.dpbs
Special thanks to CREB for the statistics that keep us all informed! For more information on November statistics check out their link here: http://www.creb.com/Seller_Resources/Monthly_Housing_Summary/
Posted by Ken Richter on
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