Million-dollar home sales on the rise in Calgary

 

By Josh Skapin, Calgary Herald April 25, 2014

                             

 

 

 

Courtesy Astoria Custom Homes The kitchen in Astoria Custom Homes’ new show home in Watermark at Bearspaw. In the Calgary area, 173 homes were sold in three months, for at least $1 million.

More million dollar single-family homes changed hands in Calgary over the first three months of 2014 than the same time a year ago, says the Calgary Real Estate Board.
From Jan. 1 to the end of March, 173 homes were sold in the Calgary area for at least $1 million.
This is a 17 per cent climb over the 149 sales from the same time in 2013.
Most of the sales came in the $1 million to $1,249,999 range — where there were 81 transactions, up from 71 a year ago. The upswing in interest for buying high-end houses extended to the new home market in the first quarter of 2014, says Astoria Custom Homes vice-president Lisa Stinson.
She calls the luxury market “very strong.”
Astoria builds in the award-winning luxury communities Artesia at Heritage Pointe south of the city and Watermark at Bearspaw to the west.
Stinson says optimism in the local economy has given buyers the confidence in purchase big-ticket homes.
“With the optimism ... good worldwide news for the most part, people are ready to move up into the luxury market,” says Stinson.
“Everyone’s home is their greatest investment and with the market now taking an uptick — all the market forecasts I’ve been to show we’re going to have a favourable economy for 2014, 2015 and in the future in 2016.
“People are reading the same kinds of economic outlooks and it’s really uplifting.”
An indication of interest from buyers is the number of people visiting show homes. In recent months, traffic at both Astoria’s show homes in Watermark and Artesia has gone up, says Stinson.
“On weekends easily we are seeing between roughly 100 to 125 groups of people through our show homes for a Saturday and Sunday,” she adds.
“Some people are just coming and getting ideas but there are definitely a lot of people asking for information.”
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Calgary Home Prices Continue Upward March

Calgary home prices continue upward march

The Canadian Press April 16, 2014                                                             

Calgary home prices in March were almost 10 per cent higher than a year earlier as the city continued to lead real estate sales in Canada.
The Canadian Real Estate Association said Tuesday that Calgary home prices rose 9.5 per cent last month, followed by Greater Toronto at 7.4 per cent.
The two markets accounted for one quarter of national sales in March, said CREA chief economist Gregory Klump.
Overall, the number of homes sold was up 4.9 per cent compared with March 2013 and 1 per cent more than February, while the number of new listings rose only half a percentage point and the supply of homes for sale remained low.
Klump said March was an improvement over the previous two months yet "there was little evidence of a flood of pent-up demand being released."
The national average price for homes sold in March through CREA members was $401,419, up six per cent from the same month last year.
The association's MLS home price index - which adjusts to compensate for the mix of properties sold - also rose 5.19 per cent year-overyear, up slightly from 5.05 per cent in February.
"Sales in many housing markets continue to recover from winter's deep freeze," CREA president Beth Crosbie said in a statement.
In a separate report, Re/Max said the average Calgary home price rose 5 per cent from March 2013 to about $484,900.
"Upward price pressure continues to be driven by inventory, low interest rates and a robust job market," it said.

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More Albertans Willing to Brave Rising Prices and Purchase a Home

People confident in getting into the real estate market

 

By Mario Toneguzzi, Calgary Herald April 10, 2014                                        

Homebuying intentions are up in Alberta this year.

CALGARY - Despite high real estate prices, Albertans have a renewed interest in buying a home, according to the 21st Annual RBC Home Ownership Poll.
The poll, which was released Thursday, said the number of those intending to buy a home in the province is up from 22 per cent in 2013 to 28 per cent this year, “showing a renewed strength in the market from last year.”
“We saw a drop in purchasing intent last year in Alberta, so this renewed intent in 2014 shows that people in the province are confident in their ability to get into the market and invest in a home,” said Don Peard, regional vice president and mortgage specialist with RBC.
“There’s a couple of key factors. Number one being, certainly we were predicting a year ago and even more than that an increase in interest rates and that really hasn’t transpired. Even if it does transpire, I don’t believe it will be as severe as some people were anticipating. That’s a huge factor in affordability and certainly impacts peoples’ intent to purchase.”
Peard said discussion about the levels of consumer debt has had an impact on peoples’ savings habits with better results in recent years, which means they are able to have enough money for downpayments.
“And of course in Alberta, comparatively speaking, affordability still remains very well particularly when we compare pricing and affordability with other larger centres in Canada. Alberta still remains very affordable. There’s no question the intent to purchase has increased,” said Peard.
Recently, the Canadian Real Estate Association said Alberta will lead the country with the highest annual growth rate in prices over the next two years in the resale housing market.
It said average MLS sale prices will climb in the province by 3.9 per cent this year to $396,000 and by another 2.5 per cent in 2015 to $406,000.
The association said Alberta will see annual sales activity increase by 0.8 per cent this year to 66,600 and then lead the country in 2015 with 3.9 per cent growth to 69,200 sales.
In February, MLS sales were up by 1.8 per cent year-over-year in Alberta to 4,595 and the average MLS sale price saw a yearly increase of 7.6 per cent in the province to $407,540.
“The volatility and fluctuations in some of the other larger Canadian cities we just don’t experience that in Alberta. There’s good, solid general appreciation in home values but it’s certainly not big spikes and bubbles,” said Peard.
“Lots of fear and talk of real estate bubbles in the past two or three or four years and I think the general consensus now is that’s really probably not going to happen at all and there’s lots of good empirical data to support that and we’ve seen good positive changes in the Vancouver and Toronto markets and of course we’re just that much more fortunate here in Alberta with having one of the best economies in the country.”
mtoneguzzi@calgaryherald.com
Twitter.com/MTone123

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Calgary Housing Market Faced with Severe Shortage of Listings

Prices continue to rise on strong demand and low inventory

 

By Mario Toneguzzi, Calgary Herald April 8, 2014 7:07 A.M.                                              

Listings in Calgary’s resale housing market remained low in the first quarter of this year.

CALGARY - A severe shortage of listings keeps pushing Calgary house prices upwards with nothing on the horizon suggesting overall inventory levels of homes for sale in the city will be rising any time soon.
“What we’re living through is a bit of a rebirth of what happened unfortunately about seven years ago,” said Ted Zaharko, broker and owner with Royal LePage Foothills in Calgary. “I think we have a severe listings shortage in Calgary and district.
“We have some excellent properties in good areas and well-priced that aren’t getting a lot of activity at the same time. But the majority of product is getting a tremendous amount of activity.”
The Royal LePage House Price Survey, released Tuesday, said “robust” year-over-year price increases have taken place in all housing types surveyed in Calgary during the first quarter of this year.
The average price for a standard two-storey home recorded the highest annual price hike, surging 7.5 per cent to $472,644. During the same period, the average price for detached bungalows increased 6.3 per cent to $480,222 and standard condominiums increased 5.3 per cent to $274,700.
“Prices for every housing category have increased due to a very high demand in the market and an inadequate supply of inventory,” said Zaharko. “The market continues to be red hot and new listings are being snatched up quickly, with most properties being sold in less than a week. Calgary is still very much a sellers’ market.”
He said sales are up about 14 per cent over the first quarter of last year.
“If there were a better supply of inventory on hand, there would probably be even more sales,” said Zaharko.
He said the lack of listings goes back to the 2006 and 2007 housing market as many people bought homes in Calgary and then were “trapped in their equity situation.”
“The market crashed. We had a market that was recovering for seven years,” said Zaharko. “Some of the situations are that people who would have normally bought and sold and moved up and moved down got into a position where they didn’t want to lose their equity and what they put into the property has taken them a long time to recover. That is one of the issues that is holding back a tremendous number of people that under the normal cycle would have been putting their houses on the market.”
He said the other problem holding people back from putting their house on the market is the lack of prospective homes for them to purchase.
“So it’s a Catch-22 on that side of the fence,” said Zaharko. “It’s a dragon with two heads on it that we can’t seem to get out of that tailspin . . . It really is a remarkably tough situation.”
Across the country, in the first quarter, the average price of a two-storey home increased 5.4 per cent to $428,943, while detached bungalows rose 4.4 per cent to $380,765. Standard condominiums posted a gain of 2.5 per cent to $252,174.
According to the Calgary Real Estate Board, as of Monday, active MLS listings in the city of 3,397 were down 18.03 per cent compared with the same period last year.
Year-to-date, MLS sales in Calgary are up 14.26 per cent from last year to 6,338 transactions while new listings of 9,317 are only up by 1.24 per cent. The average year-to-date sale price for all residential properties of $477,202 has increased by 5.37 per cent while the median price of $425,000 has risen by 6.92 per cent.
mtoneguzzi@calgaryherald.com
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Calgary Housing Market Prices Reach All-Time Record High

March MLS sales set new standards as inventory remains low

 

By Mario Toneguzzi, Calgary Herald April 1, 2014                                                      

 

CALGARY - A continued low inventory of listings combined with strong homebuyer demand pushed prices in Calgary’s resale housing market to all-time highs again in March.
Calgary Real Estate Board statistics released Tuesday indicated MLS records, for any month, were set for average sale prices and median prices in the overall city residential market as well as in the single-family category.
In the city, the overall average sale price in March was $484,918, up 5.18 per cent from last year, while the median price was rose by 6.90 per cent to $430,800. For the single-family market, the average sale price climbed by 7.32 per cent to $556,402 and the median price was up by 8.89 per cent to $490,000.

March registered 2,485 sales in the city which was the highest March total since 2007. Sales were up 17.94 per cent from last year.
“The amount of inventory is quite low in most communities within Calgary and demand remains high. Buyers are having to make extremely quick decisions as there is a high likelihood they will be in a multiple offer situation,” said Tanya Eklund, a realtor with RE/MAX Real Estate (Central). “Trying to find land to build on is one of the tightest markets right now due to the amount of new builders that have come into the inner city.
“Calgary real estate as a whole is not as tight as it was in 2006, however we are seeing homes in many areas of the city sell over list or close to list price. I do not have a crystal ball but I do suspect our market will remain strong into the second quarter of the year. My hope is the gap between supply and demand will become less. Having more supply, which statistically we do in the spring market, will give buyers more selection to choose from and not have to make same day decisions.”
The March record prices eclipsed the previous records set in February which were: $482,745 average sale and $424,900 median for the overall city; and $550,376 average sale and $480,000 median for single-family homes.
March was the 26 consecutive month of year-over-year average sale price growth and the 12th consecutive month of annual sales growth.
At the end of March, active listings in the city were down 19.35 per cent to 3,231 compared with last year. There were 3,319 new listings in the month, up 3.98 per cent from a year ago.
According to Mike Fotiou, associate broker with First Place Realty, the month also was a record one for luxury home sales with 79 properties selling for $1 million or more. That’s up from the previous record of 74 set last year and just four shy of the all-time monthly record of 83 which was established in May of last year.
Also, the first three months of this year set a record for most luxury sales in a first quarter of a year at 186, up from 171 for the same period last year.
“There seems to be a lot of positive buzz with Calgary’s economic state,” said Eklund. “With an unemployment rate of 4.8 per cent, under 1.5 per cent (rental) vacancy and record migration into the city, it appears that Calgary is a prime city to work and live. All of these factors contribute to our current strength in the Calgary real estate market and why sales are increasingly strong.”

Single-family home sales rose by 14.87 per cent in March to 1,699 MLS transactions.
In the condo apartment category, sales of 445 were up 28.61 per cent from last year. The median price rose by 10.04 per cent to $285,000 while the average sale price was up by 3.22 per cent to $311,075.
In the condo townhouse sector, sales were up 20.92 per cent from last year to 341 units while the median price rose by 7.33 per cent to $323,000. However, the average sale price was down by 0.04 per cent to $355,617.
The towns surrounding Calgary saw sales spike by 35.71 per cent to 494 transactions. The median price increased by 9.19 per cent to $383,250 while the average sale price was up by 7.63 per cent to $392,572.
Jim Dewald, dean of the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary, said so much of real estate is driven by the perception that the market is tightening or that prices are going up.
“There’s so much speculation always built into housing,” he said. “And there seems to be a feeling right now that inventories will only continue to tighten which will push prices up and now it’s more affordable than ever because mortgages are even going lower which is shocking to most people. I think there’s so much pressure because there’s a sense that prices are going to go up, get in there now.”
But Dewald cautioned that he is not seeing the foundational statistics in terms of employment growth that would sustain the “kind of anxiety that’s out there.” He also said inventories could change the market conditions.
“I don’t know if it’s wise to anticipate that prices will continue to go up because the supply side could change in the next few months,” said Dewald.
mtoneguzzi@calgaryherald.com
Twitter.com/MTone123

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