Prices continue to rise on strong demand and low inventory
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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“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
Twitter.com/MTone123
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