Home prices continue to fall in Calgary and Edmonton, according to the latest monthly report by the Canadian Real Estate Association.
In a report released Friday, the association said the benchmark price – which is the price of a typical home in the market – fell by 2.37 per cent in Calgary and by 2.36 per cent in Edmonton in October from year ago levels.
Calgary’s benchmark price sat at $416,00 for the month while for Edmonton it was $317,400.
The aggregrate price for Canada, which includes 19 major centres, was up 1.77 per cent across the country to $633,600.
MLS sales in the Calgary region of 1,846 rose by 10.1 per cent from a year ago while Edmonton region sales climbed by 7.3 per cent to 1,489. Across Canada, MLS sales of 44,499 increased by 12.9 per cent year-over-year.
CREA said home sales remained steady in October in Canada following a string of monthly increases that began in March. Activity is now almost 20 per cent above the six-year low reached in February but remains seven per cent below heights reached in 2016 and 2017.
“Steady national activity in October hides how the mortgage stress-test remains a drag on many local housing markets where the balance between supply and demand favours homebuyers in purchase negotiations,” said Jason Stephen, president of CREA, in a news release.
“It’s a full-blown buyer’s market or on the cusp of one in a number of housing markets across the Prairies and in Newfoundland,” added Gregory Klump, CREA’s Chief Economist. “Homebuyers there have the upper hand in purchase negotiations and the mortgage stress-test has contributed to that by reducing the number of competing buyers who can qualify for mortgage financing while market conditions are in their favour.”
The views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.
