With one day left in January, statistics on the Calgary Real Estate Board website show that MLS sales and prices were on the rise during the month for Calgary’s resale housing market.
As of January 30, there were 813 MLS sales which represented a 7.82 per cent hike from the same period a year ago. Also, pending sales of 73 are up by 25.86 per cent.
The CREB data indicates the median sale price in January is $400,000 which has increased by 2.18 per cent year-over-year. The average MLS sale price has risen by 0.43 per cent to $450,214.
While prices and sales are on the rise, the number of homes for sale in the market are declining. In January, new listings of 2,236 were down 8.7 per cent from last year and the number of active listings as of Friday was 5,153 or down 8.5 per cent from last year.
It is also taking less time to buy a home these days. The average days on the market to sell a listing has fallen from 72 last year to 67 this year – a decline of 6.94 per cent.
Recently, CREB’s annual forecast said Calgary’s resale housing is expected to experience a 2.24 per cent year-over-year hike in MLS sales in 2020, although the benchmark price will fall by 0.69 per cent.
The forecast predicts MLS sales in the city will reach 16,731 transactions this year. But the benchmark price – which CREB says is typical of properties in the market – will drop slightly to $419,739.
“Job growth, combined with recent easing in mortgage rates and price declines, is starting to bring some purchasers back into the lower end of the market,” said Ann-Marie Lurie, CREB’s chief economist, said at the time of the forecast’s release.
“We are seeing more transactions in the $500,000-and-below price point for residential homes.”
The CREB report said improvements in the resale housing market will be driven by the lower end and challenges will persist in the higher end.
Mario Toneguzzi is a business reporter in Calgary.
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