Calgary Real Estate Absorption Rate
What is really happening in the Calgary 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 with how the market is trending and to stay ahead of most! All numbers are taken from the Calgary Real Estate Boards Stats package for Realtors. I have also included some general comments which are simply my opinion.
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 2.4 to 4.0 | Prices typically remain stable |
| Seller’s Market | <2.4 | Drives prices up |
Current Absorption Rate
The good news part of the stats show that sales rose by 25.6% over Febuary while the inventory rose by only 22.5% keeping the balance similar. The Absorption rate for all categories decreased slightly except apartment condos which increased by .47
| End of | Feb 2018 | Mar 2018 | Change |
| Detached | 3.74 | 3.61 | -0.13 |
| Semi Detached | 5.05 | 4.70 | -0.35 |
| Attached – Row | 5.86 | 5.77 | -0.08 |
| Apartment | 7.24 | 7.72 | 0.47 |
| Total City | 4.76 | 4.64 | -0.12 |
Calgary Listing Inventory
In March, our inventory increased in all Sectors. This is totally expected at this time of year. This trend is anticipated for the next few months.
| Inventory | Feb 2018 | Feb Mar 2018 | Change |
| Detached | 2456 | 3063 | 607 |
| Semi Detached | 540 | 677 | 137 |
| Attached – Row | 779 | 941 | 162 |
| Apartment | 1427 | 1690 | 263 |
| Total City | 5202 | 6371 | 1169 |
Calgary Sales: For me this is the category that is concerning. Sales numbers all increased for March which is a normal trend. What you cannot see here is that sales for the first three months are below last years sales by 18% which is substantial. Some things that might be affecting sales include:
- The Weather
- Mortgage rule changes that the Federal Government implemented on Jan 1, 2018
- Consumer confidence in Calgary
As I have predicted in the past I believe it may take 6 months total for the mortgage rules to settle out before we start seeing more normal sales numbers.
| Calgary Sales | Feb 2018 | Mar 2018 | Change | % Change |
| Detached | 657 | 848 | 191 | 29.07% |
| Semi Detached | 107 | 144 | 37 | 34.58% |
| Attached – Row | 133 | 163 | 30 | 22.56% |
| Apartment | 197 | 219 | 22 | 11.17% |
| Total City | 1094 | 1374 | 280 | 25.59% |
Calgary Real Estate Sales Prices:
Prices in March showed very little change for all categories.
| Sales Prices | Feb 2018 Benchmark Price | Mar 2018 Benchmark Price | Change |
| Detached | 502,800 | 503,800 | 1,000 |
| Semi Detached | 418,800 | 418,800 | 0 |
| Attached – Row | 295,400 | 297,600 | 2,200 |
| Apartment | 256,400 | 257,100 | 700 |
| Total City | 434,300 | 435,600 | 1,300 |
Sales Prices “Year to Date”
| Sales Prices | Jan 1, 2018 Benchmark Price | Mar 2018 Benchmark Price | Change
$ |
% Change |
| Detached | 499,600 | 503,800 | 4,200 | 0.84% |
| Semi Detached | 416,600 | 418,800 | 2,200 | 0.53% |
| Attached – Row | 299,500 | 297,600 | -1,900 | -0.63% |
| Apartment | 257,700 | 257,100 | -600 | -0.23% |
| Total City | 433,200 | 435,600 | 2,400 | 0.55% |
**Please note that these numbers include only Calgary homes and 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 about Real Estate in general, please feel free to contact us.