It looks like the 2017 Calgary Real Estate Market is off to a good start, although it’s still early days.

December ended on a positive note for Real Estate in Calgary and area. Sales were up over December 2015, but still down, year over year, although by less that 6% in all segments – ranging from less than 3% in the detached market and over 15% in the apartment sector.

For 2016 we did see a mixed bag when it comes to pricing. On an aggregate level, we saw a 4% decline in pricing from peak (2014) to trough (2016). Obviously, some segments of the market that have had much steeper drops and some much less. If you look at some of the higher-end neighbourhoods, that decline has ranged from 6-15%. Meanwhile, in the lower-priced neighbourhoods, we haven’t seen even 4% drop because there isn’t enough stock there and those prices haven’t adjusted as much 

In the satellite communities, sales dropped, but because of the huge growth leading up to 2016, levels stayed above longer term trends. Unfortunately, some, like Airdrie, saw larger price adjustments because new listings remained near record highs, creating higher inventory levels and, in turn, price adjustments.

Regardless of what we saw in 2016, 2017 is starting off stronger than the previous year. The Provincial Government, the Calgary Real Estate Board and CMHC are predicting that we are going to see stabilization and perhaps even some recovery by year’s end. This bodes well for the Real Estate Market as with recovery will come labour market stabilization.

Co-written with Martin Breeze, Mortgage Broker, TMG The Mortgage Group