The Calgary Real Estate Board says easing sales, gains in new listings and elevated inventory levels continue to slow Calgary’s recovery in the housing market in August.
The board, in releasing its MLS stats for August, said on Tuesday that persistent oversupply in the Calgary housing market continued to weigh on prices in August.
“Calgary’s employment market has persistently high unemployment rates at 7.9 per cent and recent job losses in full-time positions. The struggles in the employment market are one of the factors weighing on our local housing market,” said Ann-Marie Lurie, the board’s chief economist.
“A slow recovery in the energy sector combined with tighter lending conditions and competition from the new home sector are also contributing current housing market conditions.”
Official MLS sales for the month of 1,490 were down 6.58 per cent from August 2017. The dollar volume of sales also fell by 5.62 per cent to $719.9 million.
There continues to be an elevated inventory of houses for sale on the market heading into the fall real estate season – the second busiest time of the year behind the spring.
New listings for the month rose by 1.86 per cent to 3,060 and the inventory of homes for sale at the end of August was up 22.69 per cent from a year ago to 8,121.
The months of supply, which measures the amount of time it would take to sell all the inventory given the level of demand, rose by 31.34 per cent to 5.45.
Also, CREB reported that the average number of days on the market for a home to sell climbed by 24.13 per cent year over year to 56.
The board said the benchmark price, which measures the price of a typical home sold in the market, dropped by 2.39 per cent to $432,000 and the median price fell by 0.35 per cent to $426,000.
However, the average MLS sale price rose by 1.03 per cent to $483,192.
CREB said MLS sales during the month were 14 per cent below long-term trends.
“Both buyers and sellers need to be realistic about their objectives. Buyers need to be aware that price changes differ depending on what and where you are buying. The decline in sales does not mean price declines across the board,” said Tom Westcott, president of CREB.
“Sellers need to be well informed to be competitive. They need a good understanding of what has been selling around them and how their property compares to homes that have successfully sold.”
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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