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Friday, July 15, 2011 - Housing Moving Up In Calgary

After looking over many forecasts and economic previews of the second half of 2011.  It seems like Calgary housing will be steadily moving up.  MLS® sales for 2011 so far are up about 5.64 percent for single family compared to last year.  The only part of the market that things have still not picked up too much is condo sales.  Calgary condos are not moving and prices have declined a couple percent.

Except for the condo segment of the market, Calgary properties will be increasing in value.  The economic forecast for Calgary looks really good. Great job growth and interest rates are still low.  The market is getting a strong footing and the recovery from last year is well under way.  We should have a strong fall sales period in a couple months leading up to 2012.  Unless something drastic happens to change the course of Calgary property, we are looking for a good 2011.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011 - Summing Up The Calgary Real Estate Board Statistics and Market Update

The monthly Calgary housing statistics and information has come out. It can be a long boring read so we have decided to post each month here to make it short and to the point. So let's get right to it.

Calgary market sales have dropped 4% this quarter since last year.  But lower inventory levels have helped to offset that a bit.  If there was a lot of inventory the market would be saturated and a huge plummet could follow.

The Calgary Real Estate Board mentioned that the spring market is slow to start but with good job growth the market is poised to pick up.  Higher end homes seem to be selling faster then normal.  What does that say for Calgary housing?  It might mean that first time buyers did most of their buying last year and the wealthier consumers are getting back into the market.

The average price for single family homes increased 3.25% and the average price for a condo increased 3% from March.  That is very good growth for the season.  With a late spring start that should increase for the next month or 2.

The absorption rate tells us if we are heading into a buyers or sellers market.  It is a crude tool but it can be useful to predict where the market is heading.  Right now we are at about 5.  That means we are in a buyers market.  But just last month we were very close to a balanced market.  So we will have to see how sales and inventory of Calgary housing  in the coming months effect the market to proclaim a true buyers market.

The Calgary Real Estate Board comes out with statistics every month and we will be here to sum it all up for you. 

Friday April 29, 2011 - Calgary’s Strategic Group Has Unique Leasing Idea

The Strategic Group manages over 70 properties in Edmonton and Calgary, amounting to some four million square feet of office space. In downtown Calgary alone they have eight buildings with almost 800,000 square feet. On the Beltline, they manage 14 buildings that offer 600,000 square feet. Companies that lease from them are generally pleased with their services.

One reason is that they are the only management firm that has an in-house construction crew that can transform office space into what the client needs in a short amount of time. Another is that they have a policy that a tenant may terminate their lease without paying a penalty, if that tenant is in need of more space and chooses another property from Strategic. This is also another one of a kind offer in Calgary. Leasing associate Dahlya Colasurdo notes that this approach makes for good landlord/tenant relations and helps to keep more of Strategic’s space spoken for at the same time.

The vacancy rate in Calgary’s downtown office market is decreasing, going from 13 percent in the last quarter of 2010 to 11.5 percent in the first three months of 2011. It is also considerably lower than the 14.3 percent seen in the first quarter of 2010. During 2011’s first quarter there was positive absorption of roughly 562,931 square feet, compared to 453,123 square feet for the first three months of 2010. Much of the new business comes from oil and gas companies once again expanding and looking for prime office space.

Tuesday April 19, 2011 - Job Growth in Calgary on the Rise

The job market in Calgary is looking up. The Conference Board of Canada released its report stating just that. The metro Help Wanted Index takes a look at the number of new jobs, not duplicated ones, which are posted to 79 different online sites during a specific month. That number is seasonally adjusted and used to calculate where a city falls on the index chart.

Across the nation, employment did take a slight dip, but still there were 80,000 jobs created during the first quarter of 2011. Most Canadian cities saw an increase in job numbers. More people were snapping up those jobs as well. In 19 of the 27 Canadian Metropolitan Areas, employment numbers climbed, with more jobs being offered as the year goes on. In 22 of those CMAs employment in the near term is looking up, in two the numbers are stable and only three areas saw decreases.

The West is doing particularly well, where out of eight CMAs, seven saw improvements and the eighth was deemed stable. The Canadian average for indicating the tightness of the labour market is 2.3. The CMAs in the West, with the exception of Abbotsford, were below that number. The number represents the number of unemployed people compared to the number of available jobs.

Other cities that saw favourable near term numbers included Victoria, Vancouver, Abbotsford-Mission, Edmonton, Calgary, Regina, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, the Kitchener area, Windsor, London, St Catharines-Niagara, Hamilton, Toronto, the Greater Sudbury area, Kingston, Ottawa-Gatineau, Montreal, Quebec, Saguenay, Halifax and St John’s.

Thursday April 7, 2011 - Calgary Enjoying Influx of First-Time Homebuyers

For the first time in a several years, first-time homebuyers are entering Calgary’s resale market with abundance. According to data released April 5 by Re/Max, sales of homes priced at less than $300,000 accounted for 32 percent of total volume for January and February.

Olympics bobsledder Helen Upperton and her sister Jennifer are in the process of buying their first home. Jennifer Upperton said that she and her sister have been working with a realtor to find a two-suite home or a raised bungalow. She noted that she has been a ten-year renter, and that she and her sister have accumulated enough cash for a healthy down payment. Upperton also commented that attractive interest rates, high home inventory and reasonable prices are steering her and her sister toward their own home.

Statistics indicate that many of the buyers of entry-level homes in January and February are younger people in their 20s and 30s. Singles are well represented, showing a desire on the part of buyers to start building equity at a younger age.

According to Calgary Real Estate Board president Sano Stante, the increase in first-time buyers is welcome, as this phenomenon will promote sellers of entry-level homes to buy more expensive properties in coming months. He noted that the market is currently well balanced.

As of February 28, the average price for a home in the metro area of Calgary was approximately $410,000. In the Greater Calgary market, there was a minor decrease in the number of homes that sold in the first two months of this year, versus the same period of 2010. At the end of February, 3,199 homes sold, as compared to 3,297 having sold a year ago.

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