With one week left in September, the Calgary resale housing market is following a similar pattern it has set out for most of this year.
MLS sales continue to slide, taking prices in a downward direction as more listings on the market are making it harder for people to sell their homes.
According to the Calgary Real Estate Board website, as of Sept. 23, there were 925 MLS sales in Calgary for September, representing a 15.37 per cent decline compared with the same period a year ago. Pending sales have also fallen by 10.20 per cent to 88.
While economists have been painting a positive picture of Alberta’s economy for this year and moving forward, that fact hasn’t translated into confidence in the residential real estate market as there appears to be continued caution on demand for homes.
When oil prices collapsed in the latter half of 2014, it took the economy in the province, and Calgary, in a downward spiral, leading to gut-wrenching recessions in both 2015 and 2016. Thousands of jobs were shed and many of them in high-paying occupations in downtown Calgary. Many of those jobs still haven’t returned despite the economy rebounding starting in 2017. It’s a slow economy and obviously a cautious one for people moving forward.
With sales continuing to decline, listings remain at an elevated level. So far in September, new listings have risen by 8.43 per cent compared with a year ago to 2,413. And the total number of homes for sale in the market as of Sunday was 8,361, which is 16.08 per cent higher than in September 2017.
The average days on the market to sell a listing has also risen by 22.22 per cent, going from 45 days last year to currently 55 days.
Naturally, all those dynamics are taking a toll on prices. The median sale price in September to date is down 2.49 per cent from a year ago to $411,500 while the average MLS sale price has dropped by 4.20 per cent to $466,066.
Mario Toneguzzi is a veteran Calgary-based journalist who worked for 35 years for the Calgary Herald, including 12 years as a senior business writer.
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