Monthly Market Reports
December 2008 Market Report
The Calgary Real Estate Board released its monthly market statistics package for December 2008. Some highlights and selected charts are below (credit Calgary Real Estate Board www.creb.com), the report will be made publically available tomorrow.
We were expecting a slow month given the overall market conditions and the economic sentiment and we weren’t surprised. The number of homes sold (total MLS) was down roughly 47% compared with December 2007. The annual sales volume for 2008 vs. 2007 was down 29% for single family homes and 34% for condominiums. Although the volume is down significantly over last year, YTD median prices have declined by much less (2.85% for single family homes and 5.25% for condominiums).
November 2008 Market Report
The Calgary Real Estate Board released its monthly market statistics package for November. Some highlights and selected charts are below (credit Calgary Real Estate Board www.creb.com), you can download the full report in PDF here.
Sales declined during the month as we were expecting due to the time of the year and concerns over the global economic situation. Compared with this time last year, the median price of a single family home has declined by 5.45% and the median sale price of a condominium has decreased by 7.27%.
The number of homes sold (total MLS) was down about 25% compared with last November, which is consistent with the difference in sales volume year to date (down 26%). Although the volume is down significantly over last year, YTD median prices have declined by much less (3.07% for single family homes and 4.75% for condominiums).
September 2008 Market Report
The Calgary Real Estate Board statistics for the month of September have been released and the numbers are interesting. You can download the complete report from the CREB website but I will highlight some of the details.
Single Family - Calgary Metro
The year-over-year comparisons are starting to change with sales numbers last month 8.2% greater than in September 2007 (Single Family Calgary Metro Sales). In September 2007 there were 1,064 single family home sales, during September 2008 the number of sales was 1,152. During the same time there were 15% fewer new listings added in the single family market.
The month-end inventory was down compared with last year too, with 5,387 listings at the end of the month compared with 5,562 last year. The average sale price was 444,048 (vs. $470,888 - a decline of 5.7%) while the median price was $395,000 (vs $420,500 - a decline of 6.06%).
Condominium - Calgary Metro
Inventory in the condominium market is still greater than it was at this time last year, with 2,659 listings on the market at the end of last month. This compares to 2,235 at the end of September 2007 (up 18.9%). The number of new listings being added to this inventory was down 9.8% compared with last year with 1,186 new condos coming to the market.
The number of sales was slightly less than last September at 465 units compared with 483. Average price declined by 10.63% to $287,426 (median price down 11.67% to $265,000).
August 2008 Market Report
The total number of listings in the single family home market in Calgary has continued to fall from the high reached in May of over 7000 homes to 5,541 at the end of August. This is about 700 more listings than were on the market this time last year. At the same time the number of new listings brought on the market was 20% fewer than new listings last August.
The median sale price of a single family home was $398,000 and the average was $440,000. These prices are down compared with last year when we saw the all-time peak of the average sale price at over $500,000.
The numbers for condos are behaving in much the same way. There were 2,700 listings at the end of August compared with 1,855 last year. The number of new listings was down by 11% compared with last year. The median sale price was $268,500 and the average sale price was $287,000.
As you probably remember from any economics class you’ve ever taken, all things being equal when supply is high and demand is low, prices will be lower. When supply is low and demand is high, prices rise. This is exactly what we’ve seen over the past few years in Calgary. Starting last summer we’ve seen a significant increase in the number of homes on the market while demand has fallen off a little and the prices have moved down as a result.
There hasn’t been an alarming decline in prices overall and a lot of the difference in the averages might be caused by fewer expensive homes selling and a greater number of more modest homes being sold. For example, last August there were 55 homes sold below $300,000 while this August the number was 112, this would have a substantial effect on the average price even though a greater percentage of the homes sold over $1,000,000 this year is greater than last.
There are so many ways to analyze the statistics, it’s important to come to your own conclusions about the market. The headlines in the newspapers don’t tell the whole story. Inventory in the single family home market and in the overall Calgary MLS market has been coming down steadily for a few months and there are plenty of positive stories about the local economy and job market that give a good outlook for housing demand in the future. In the meantime there are some great opportunities for first time home buyers with selection and negotiating power they haven’t had over the past several years. I’ve been blogging some of these stories this week.
You can access the complete statistics package from the Calgary Real Estate Board from this link.
July 2008 Market Report
SINGLE FAMILY HOMES
The inventory of single family homes on the market in Calgary declined form a high of over 7000 homes reached in May to 6,038 at the end of July. Compared with the inventory on the market this time last year this represents an increase of 33.9%
During the month there were 2,559 new listings brought online, almost identical to the pace in July 2007 of 2,548 homes. Total sales were 1,313 this year, down 12.17% from last year’s number.
Meanwhile, the average sale price was $456,380, representing a 9.8% decline from the all-time record reached last year of $505,920. Median price declined to $408,500 from $435,000 in same period last year.
* Average price information can be useful in identifying overall trends but doesn’t indicate actual prices in any particular community. For detailed information on home sale prices in your community, access the online home evaluation feature.
CONDOMINIUMS
Inventory on the re-sale condominium market is still significantly higher than last year. At the end of July 2008 there were 2,888 condo units on the market compared with just 1,634 last year, an increase of 76.7%. 535 units were sold in July compared with 603 units this time last year, down 11.3%.
The average price of a condominium unit sold last month was $296,338
, down 7% from last July’s average of $318,582. Median price corrected to $273,500 from $297,900 last year, down 8.2%.
* Average price information can be useful in identifying overall trends but doesn’t indicate actual prices in any particular community. For detailed information on home sale prices in your community, access the online home evaluation feature.
CONCLUSIONS
In general, homes are taking longer to sell with the increased competition from the oversupplied marketplace. The average condo or single family home on the market currently has been listed for 54 days, although this statistic varies widely in different communities and does not account for properties that have been re-listed.
Year-to-date sales volume is down about 30% in both the single family and condominium markets while inventories are up in both areas. As a result of the imbalance in supply and demand, sellers are experiencing increased pressure to accurately price their homes at market value. Get a quick and easy estimate of your home’s market value here.
* statistics and charts provided courtesy of Calgary Real Estate Board cooperative. Access the stats package in PDF format here.
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