Housing market set for favourable lead into spring – Detached prices stabilize as city-wide inventory trends down
Mar. 2017
City of Calgary, April 3, 2017 – After a long period of disconnect between supply and demand, Calgary’s detached housing sector is firmly in balanced territory. Sales were still 10 per cent below long-term trends in March, but above levels seen in recent years, while average inventory declined compared to last year, supporting price stability in the detached market. “It’s not so much that demand went through the roof in March, but that we had less supply come onto the market, which is really helping to balance things out,” said CREB® president David P. Brown. “These changes are lifting the cloud of uncertainty for housing consumers and nicely positioning our market as we move into the more active spring season.” Unadjusted detached benchmark prices totaled $503,900 in March, 0.4 per cent above last month and similar to levels recorded last year. Meanwhile, Apartment and attached prices continue to remain well below levels recorded last year. “Market conditions are quite different in the apartment sector,” said CREB® chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie. “The additional supply coming from the new home sector is not easily reversed and the added competition is continuing to weigh on prices in the higher density sectors of the market.” City-wide inventory levels totaled 5,114 in March, 16 per cent below last year’s levels. This is primarily driven by the 25 and 17 per cent contraction in the detached and attached markets. Inventory levels in the ownership apartment sector remain three per cent higher then levels recorded last year. “The housing market transition in the first quarter appears to be consistent with trends in the labour market,” said Lurie. “However, the way the rest of the year unfolds will be largely determined by what happens in the next two quarters, as nearly 60 per cent of all housing sales typically occur in that timeframe.”
HOUSING MARKET FACTS
- Overall sales activity totaled 1,906 in March, a 20 per cent increase over last year, but eight per cent below long-term averages.
- Months of supply is trending down for all product types, but has remained elevated in the apartment sector, averaging 6.1 in the first quarter of the year compared to the 2.4 average in the detached sector.
- Higher sales combined with lower inventory levels occurred across all price ranges in the detached market, causing months of supply to return to more normal levels for most price ranges.
- As of March, unadjusted semi-detached prices totaled $389,600, a 0.9 per cent increase compared to last month and one per cent higher than prices recorded one year ago. Meanwhile, row prices totaled $304,100 in March, 0.6 per cent below last month and 4.5 per cent below last year.
- Detached sales growth has improved across all districts, with the exception of the North East area of the city. On the supply side, reductions have been most notable in the North West district, causing months of supply to drop to a quarterly average of 1.63.
- Average detached benchmark prices in the first quarter remain one per cent lower than the first quarter of last year. However, the North West, West and East districts of the city all reported quarterly prices that were higher than the first quarter of last year.
- While prices in the row and apartment sectors are still easing in the majority of the districts, there have been some price gains occurring in the semi-detached sector. After the first quarter, semi-detached prices are higher than last year’s levels for the City Centre, North East, North West and West districts of the city.
CREB April 3, 2017 Release
DARYL CARLSON – RE/MAX Realty Professionals
Please email, text or call, if you have any questions.
(403) 650 – 7400 darylcarlson@shaw.ca
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