Archive for January, 2019

Real Estate Sold Data – big news about nothing!

Thursday, January 10th, 2019

Home Sales Price Data will soon be available to the public, a Realtor perspective.

Background:  The competition bureau recently won in it’s ruling that VOW Websites are allowed to show Sold Real Estate data.  The opposing position from Toronto Real Estate Board argued that doing this is a breach of privacy.  Since the competition board won in Toronto it is felt that any further challenges will be won by the competition board so I believe most boards across Canada including the Calgary Real Estate Board have decided to allow this data to be put on VOW Websites.

What makes this change ironic is that in 15 years of Real Estate if anyone asked me for sold data I would give it to them so it has always been available, just now it will be on websites.

Moving Forward:  Realtor.ca has announced that it will include Sold data on it’s website – what that looks like nobody knows yet.  As for this data being put on Realtor websites my opinion is that it will happen but will take some time.

In Calgary we are waiting for instructions from the Calgary Real Estate Board  to determine what we are allowed to do.  Even after a decision is announced it will take some time as a change of this magnitude  is a huge project in Web-site redesign and there is a huge cost.

What effect will this have on Real Estate in Calgary? 

In my opinion little to none.  People do not hire Realtors for Sold Data.  Even with sold data people will still need Realtors expertise to sort through the data, figure out what is relevant and what is not to help homeowners determine the value of their home.  This opinion is based on my experience in the industry and even when we give people the sold data many still have a hard time figuring out a competitive price resulting in all the overpriced listings you see sitting on the market.

Lastly, if you have sold a home you know the value a Realtor brings to the table including advice on pricing, staging, fixing items, renovating,  resale value, marketing strategies that work, what attracts buyers ect ect ect.

Calgary Real Estate Market Snapshot for Jan 1, 2019

Wednesday, January 2nd, 2019

What is really happening in the Calgary Real Estate Market?

First Explaining my report: 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.

Months of Inventory:  If we did not list any more homes this is how many months it would take to deplete inventory.

Months of Inventory/Absorption Rate – 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 Monthly Report 

 

 

Current Report

Current Months of Inventory: 

In December our months of inventory increased in all categories except Semi-Detached which decreased a little.  Of note is that apartment condos increased 4.15 months – this is important as last month condos decreased by 1.63 leaving a net 2 month gain of 2.54 months which is still substantial.  All housing categories are now in a “buyer’s market position”.

 

End of Nov 2018    Dec 2018    Change
Detached 5.16 5.23 0.07
Semi Detached 6.97 6.59 -0.39
Attached – Row 6.58 6.81 0.23
Apartment 5.51 9.66 4.15
Total City 5.57 6.18 0.60

 

 

Calgary Listing Inventory

In December, our inventory decreased in all sectors and overall, the highest decrease was in the Detached home sector followed by the Apartment Condo sector. This decrease is normal at this time of year as people often take their home off the market during the Holiday Season and many will relist in January.

 

Inventory Nov 2018    Dec 2018    Change
 Detached 3507 2592 -915
Semi Detached 753 573 -180
Attached – Row 948 715 -233
Apartment 1323 1024 -299
Total Calgary 6531 4904 -1627

 

Calgary Sales:

In December we saw a decrease in sales in all Categories.  Again, this is very normal as people are busy during the holidays and Real Estate moves often get put off until people are settled in after the holidays.  I speculate that in January these numbers will start to increase.

 

Calgary Sales  Nov 2018    Dec 2018    Change % Change
Detached 680 496 -184 -27.06%
Semi Detached 108 87 -21 -19.44%
Attached – Row 144 105 -39 -27.08%
Apartment 240 106 -134 -55.83%
Total City 1172 794 -378 -32.25%

 

***Sales Compared to last year***

As you can see from the chart below comparing sales to last year’s sales there have been some substantial changes.  In the first half of the year we were trending up and in the last 6 months we are trending down rather quickly.  My belief is that this is due to the Economic conditions in Calgary and declining consumer confidence.

Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov  Dec
102% 82% 72% 80% 82% 89% 95% 93% 85.9% 89.9% 83.0 78.6

 

 

Calgary Real Estate Sales Prices:

December saw prices decrease in all sectors with the largest decrease being in the Detached home sector.  This is expected with the high number of months of inventory on the market.  Unless something changes we can expect to see this trend for a few more months.

  Sales Prices Nov 2018     Benchmark Price   Dec 2018   Benchmark Price Change
Detached 486,000 481,400 -4,600
Semi Detached 400,700 397,500 -3,200
Attached – Row 292,900 288,400 -4,500
Apartment 252,800 251,500 -1,300
Total City 422,600 418,500 -4,100

 

 

Sales Prices “Year to Date”  

Well the numbers are finally in for 2018 with all categories showing a loss in the Benchmark price.

Sales Prices Jan 1, 2018    Benchmark Price  Dec 2018   Benchmark Price Change

$

% Change
Detached 498,700 481,400 -17,300 -3.47%
Semi Detached 412,500 397,500 -15,000 -3.64%
Attached – Row 296,700 288,400 -8,300 -2.80%
Apartment 256,400 251,500 -4,900 -1.91%
Total City 432,400 418,500 -13,900 -3.21%

 **Please note that these numbers include only Calgary and  change on a community basis and more so for towns.  This report does not include rural properties and does not take into account differences in different price ranges.  If you would like to find stats on your community contact us.  If you have any questions about this summary or about Real Estate in general, please feel free to contact us.