Find out what is really happening in the Real Estate Market. Stay ahead of everyone else by following our Monthly Market Snapshot of the Calgary Real Estate Market. This shows what’s really happening! The market is driven by supply and demand so here we show the inventory (supply) and sales (demand) and most importantly the relationship between the two and how it affects the price of Calgary Real Estate. A simple way to keep up to date and ahead of most!
Below are the details along with a few comments, all numbers were taken from the Calgary Real Estate Boards Stats package for Realtors.
Calgary Listing Inventory
In January our total inventory of listings in Calgary increased in all 3 categories. This is very typical for this time of year as many sellers wait until after the holiday season to list their homes.
| Inventory |
Dec 2015 |
Jan 2016 |
Change |
| Detached |
2138 |
2546 |
+408 |
| Attached |
1078 |
1223 |
+145 |
| Apartment |
1120 |
1253 |
+133 |
| Total City of Calgary |
4336 |
5022 |
+686 |
Calgary Sales:
Sales in all categories decreased in January. In my opinion this is a direct reflection on what is happening in the Calgary economy as sales would typically increase in Jan over Dec. Last year in Jan we sold 877 homes and this year we sold only 764 so we are also down from last year by 13%.
| Sales |
Dec 2015 |
Jan 2016 |
Change |
% Change |
| Detached |
533 |
465 |
-68 |
12.8% |
| Attached |
194 |
170 |
-24 |
-12.4% |
| Apartment |
151 |
129 |
-22 |
-14.6% |
| Total City of Calgary |
878 |
764 |
-114 |
-13.0% |
Calgary Real Estate Sales Prices:
Prices for all detached homes showed a very slight increase this month while all other categories showed a decrease. ***** CREB Stats Reported in our stats package show different numbers today for benchmark price for detached and attached homes for the end of the year. It appears to me they may have reclassified something as detached homes are showing higher and attached are showing lower by about $4,000. If I am correct then detached homes showed a slight decrease and attached homes showed a much smaller decrease.
| Sales Prices |
Dec 2015Benchmark Price |
Jan 2016Benchmark Price |
Change |
| Detached |
508,700 |
509,300 |
+600 |
| Attached |
351,400 |
345,600 |
-5,800 |
| Apartment |
285,500 |
281,900 |
-3,600 |
| Total City of Calgary |
448,800 |
447,300 |
-1,500 |
Sales Prices “Year to Date”
Year to date prices – Same as above for this month.
| Sales Prices |
Dec 31, 2015 Benchmark Price |
Jan 2016Benchmark Price |
Change$ |
% Change |
| Detached |
508,700 |
509,300 |
+600 |
+.11 |
| Attached |
351,400 |
345,600 |
-5,800 |
-1.65 |
| Apartment |
285,500 |
281,900 |
-3,600 |
-1.26 |
| Total City of Calgary |
448,800 |
447,300 |
-1,500 |
-.33% |
Absorption Rate (Months of Inventory) (the inventory divided by the number of sales in the last month). What does this mean you might ask?
| Buyer’s Market |
>4.0 |
Drives prices down |
| Balanced Market |
Between 2.8 to 4.0 |
Prices typically remain stable |
| Seller’s Market |
<2.8 |
Drives prices up |
*** Absorption Rate***
In my opinion this is the most critical number to look at. January saw an increase in the absorption rate in all categories. This puts all sectors into a buyer’s market position. Based on this I would have to predict further price easing in the upcoming months especially in the attached home and apartment condo sectors.
| Absorption Rate |
Dec 2015 |
Jan 2016 |
Change |
| Detached |
4.01 |
5.48 |
+1.47 |
| Attached |
5.56 |
7.19 |
+1.63 |
| Apartment |
7.42 |
9.71 |
+2.29 |
| Total City of Calgary |
4..94 |
6.57 |
+1.63 |
Why would people buy in this market?
Two reasons come to mind. The first is people need a place to live and Real Estate has typically been looked at as a long term investment. The second reason is that the higher priced homes have come down substantially more than the lower priced homes so it can be smart to “Move up” in a market like this.
Price Sensitivity
It is also important to note that homes in the lower price ranges are still moving much quicker than homes in the higher price ranges.
**Please note that these numbers do change on a community basis and more so for towns. This report does not include rural properties. If you would like to find stats on your community just let me know. If you have any questions about this summary or Real Estate questions please feel free to contact us.
If you know anyone else who might enjoy seeing our monthly summary please feel free to pass this on. Gord, Eric, Brent, Melissa
TSW Real Estate Group
The decision to buy a house or a condo is personal and a matter of lifestyle.