Sales continue to surge as listings rise

Thanks to a surge in new listings, sales activity reached a record high for the month of February with 3,305 sales. The rise in new listings caused adjusted inventories to rise above last months levels. However, with only one month of supply, the market continues to favour the seller. 

“Sales have been somewhat restricted by the lack of supply choice in the market. While sellers did respond with a record level of new listings this month, the demand has been so strong that the housing market continues to remain undersupplied causing further price gains,” said CREB^® Chief Economist Ann-Marie Lurie.

The total residential benchmark price for the city rose by nearly six per cent over January levels and was over 16 per cent higher than levels recorded last February. Much of the growth has been driven by the detached segment of the market which has not seen conditions this tight in over 15 years. 

This is the fourth consecutive month that the market has dealt with conditions that are far tighter than what the city experienced last spring. While the gains in new listings will help provide choice to purchasers and eventually support more balanced conditions, it will take some time to work through the demand in the market. 

Detached

For the third consecutive month, the months of supply in the detached sector has remained below one month. The limited supply and persistently strong demand has placed significant upward pressure on prices. As of February, the benchmark price reached $596,400, which is nearly $50,000 higher than prices seen at the end of 2021 and over $90,000 higher than February 2021 prices. Price gains have occurred in every district of the city with year-over-year gains pushing above 20 per cent in the North, South and South East districts. 

After the first two months of the year, sales growth has been the strongest in the $600,000 to $1,000,000 price range, as this is where there was the largest gain in new listings. Overall, conditions remain exceptionally tight across all price ranges, with less than one month of supply occurring for all homes priced under $1,000,000 over the first two months of the year. 

Semi-Detached

The record number of new listings for February were met with record high February sales, doing little to ease the pressure in this segment of the market. The months of supply dropped to one month, something that has not happened in February since 2006.

The persistent and exceptionally tight conditions caused further upward pressure on prices. Thanks to gains across every district, the semi-detached unadjusted benchmark price reached $461,400 in February, which is nearly five per cent higher than last month and 16 per cent higher than levels recorded in February 2021.

Row

Lack of supply choice in competing property types drove many consumers to consider row style properties. However, following several months of strong sales relative to new listings, inventory levels have also trended down relative to what we traditionally see at this time of year. With 537 sales in February and 535 units in inventory, the months of supply dropped to one month for the first time since early 2007.

The persistent sellers’ market conditions caused steep monthly price gains across most districts of the city. The largest month gains occurred in the North East, North and West end of the city. Despite recent gains, prices remain shy of previous highs in all districts except the West.

Apartment Condominium

After falling behind other property types, the apartment condominium sector recorded a surge in sales this month, reaching record highs for February. New listings also improved but did little to cause any significant change to inventory levels. The months of supply dipped below two months and was the tightest seen in the apartment condo sector since 2007.

The recent tightness has supported some upward pressure in prices this month. However, price gains are significantly lower than the other property types and prices continue to remain over 14 per cent below previous highs. While this segment of the market has not experienced the same supply constraints as other property types, if conditions remain this tight, we could see more substantial shifts toward price recovery.

REGIONAL MARKET FACTS

Airdrie

Record high new listings in February enabled sales to reach a record high. With 385 new listings and 289 sales, the sales to new listings ratio fell to 75 per cent, which is the first time it dropped below 80 per cent since spring of last year. While the recent gains provided some monthly uplift in inventory levels, supply remains exceptionally low, and the months of supply has remained below one month for the fourth consecutive month.

Persistently tight market conditions especially in the detached and semi-detached sector has driven significant price growth in the market. In February, the unadjusted detached price reached $490,800, nearly six per cent over last month and 22 per cent higher than last year’s levels. 

Cochrane

New listings reached a record monthly high in February. However, sales nearly matched the levels of new listings causing inventories to face further declines and the months of supply to fall to the lowest levels ever recorded at less than half of month of supply. This is the fourth consecutive month with the months of supply has been below one month and the sellers’ market conditions are placing significant upward pressure on prices especially for detached and semi-detached properties.

In February, the unadjusted detached benchmark price reached $548,400, nearly seven per cent higher than last month and over 21 per cent higher than levels recorded last February. Price gains have occurred across all property types; however, apartment style properties continue to record prices below previous highs seen back in 2007. 

Okotoks

Like other markets, gains in new listings helped support record levels of sales for February. However, the gains in new listings were not enough to support any substantial change in the low inventory situation. With only 56 units in inventory at the end of the month, this is the lowest February inventory seen since 2006. Strong sales combined with low inventory caused the months of supply to ease further and remain below one month for the third consecutive month. 

The persistent tight market conditions caused a surge in prices. In February, the benchmark price for a detached home reached $554,900, nearly eight per cent higher than last month and over 15 per cent higher than last February. 

https://www.creb.com/News/CREBNow/2021/November/October_2021_Market_continues_to_favour_the_seller/

February Market Update | Introducing Katelyn!

Pete:

Hey everyone, it’s Pete de Jong here with Remax. And I want to introduce you to someone special. This is Katelyn. Katelyn say hi.

Katelyn:

Hi!

Pete:

Katelyn and I just started working together. And by working together, I don’t mean she works for me, I don’t work for her. But we’ve sort of formed an affiliation or an association. So it’s just a matter of we share all the same systems. We share an assistant, everything else. So what it allows us to do is just take better care of you. And what that means is if there’s ever a time when you want to go look at a home, and in this market, if the right home comes up, you want to look right away. If I’m not available, call Katelyn. Right?

Katelyn:

I’m right here, give me a call.

Pete:

And call her right away because you don’t want to be looking at it three days later because it’ll be sold by that time. It’s how this market is working right now. And at the same time, if you’re a client of Katelyn’s and you can’t get a hold of Katelynn, phone me. And we’ll have our numbers at the end of this video as well so you’ll be able to get a hold of either one of us. In fact, I think we’re planning on sharing a website even. Right?

Katelyn:

I think so, yeah.

Pete:

So right now, if you go to the 280keys.com, I think it shows as me being the main agent and then you as part of the team. But we’re going to fix that a little bit, probably so that we’re both the agents so we’re teamed to each other is what it is. Let me talk about the Calgary real estate market, because some of the numbers coming up are insane.

Katelyn:

Yeah.

Pete:

They’re bananas.

Katelyn:

Insane.

Pete:

With respect to the Calgary real estate market, what are we at now for an average price?

Katelyn:

We are looking at average price of actually $500,000 right now.

Pete:

$500,000.

Katelyn:

Thats crazy.

Pete:

Yeah, that’s actually a 16.1% increase over February of last year. So we’re looking at February’s numbers here. And compared to February of last year, we’re up 16.1 across the whole real estate board.

Katelyn:

That’s crazy. And then when we look specifically at detached prices, we’re actually looking at almost $600,000.

Pete:

Yeah, it’s like $596,400.

Katelyn:

$596,000.

Pete:

It’s crazy. And that’s like a 19% increase over last year. So the way to think about it is we’re almost at $600,000, and that’s almost a 20% increase over last year in February.

Katelyn:

And then when we look at semi detached, we are up again at $461,400.

Pete:

It’d be like a duplex, like a half duplex or something like that.

Katelyn:

Yeah!

Pete:

If you can imagine in Calgary a half duplex selling for $464,000. It’s been a while. We’ve both been doing real estate for a while, but it’s been a while since I’ve seen a price like that for a half duplex. And that’s just the average. So of course, some of them are selling for closer to a million and stuff once you’re into West Hill Hearst and stuff like that. But yeah, that’s a 16% increase too, over last year. So again, strong growth

Katelyn:

Strong growth. And then when we look at row houses, which that’s when you’re typically looking at townhouses and such like that, we’re actually looking at $321,000

Pete:

And that’s a 13% increase over last year.

Pete:

So even like Townhouses, I remember last year talking about the townhouse market, just thinking the detached market has taken off. The townhouse will eventually and it is now, it’s over 13% price increase from last year.

Katelyn:

And then when we look at apartments, it’s not much of an increase compared to the rest of how the market is doing. But we’re looking at around $257,000 actually.

Pete:

Yeah, $250,000-$260,000. And what’s really interesting is I think we’re even going to see some apartment price increases downtown. Some of those apartments along the Belt Line and stuff have just been struggling for so long. There’s just so many even that are still vacant and that kind of thing. But it looks like that’s changing. And I think if you’re looking for an investment opportunity, one bedroom market still hasn’t moved at all. And the two bedroom market is starting to and that’s what’s driving the 4.6% increase. But I think there’s still opportunities in that one bedroom market. And like I’ve mentioned before, we’ve got 4000 immigrants joining our country every year right now. And I don’t think they’re going to be able to afford to live in the Toronto or the Southern Ontario area anymore or in the Vancouver or Fraser Valley area anymore. So I think they’re going to be coming to Calgary, Alberta, where the land of opportunity again and all those little apartments are going to be filling up like mad. So if you’re looking at buying an investment, I still recommend there’s still room for a lot of growth in that market segment.

Katelyn:

So then when we look at the total sales year by year, we are actually looking at just a little bit over 3300.

Pete:

3300 units in one month. Yes. And to show you what this market is doing, this is probably the craziest number we’re going to talk about because that is an 80% increase over last year. An 80% increase year over year. That’s nuts!

Katelyn:

That’s insane. So when you’re looking at new listings, we are actually looking at about 4600 listings.

Pete:

Yeah, 4650, something like that is in our listings, which that’s a 63% increase over last year. But when you’re looking at an 80% increase in demand versus a 63% increase in supply, you know what’s going to happen?

Katelyn:

Inventory is going to drop.

Pete:

Inventory is going to drop and prices are going to keep going up. That’s what we’re seeing.

Katelyn:

Yeah. So when it comes to inventory, we’re actually looking at only 3600. 

Pete:

Yeah and I remember in 2019, I think it was we had 8000 listings. So this is a pretty dramatic drop. But even then it’s a 20% drop even from last year. So even though you’re seeing sales increase by 80%, you’re seeing inventory drop. Even though you’re seeing new listings. Come on, at 63%, you’re seeing inventory drop. So we’re down to three months supply. Two month supply.

Katelyn:

Not even, one month.

Pete:

One month supply.

Katelyn:

Yeah, one month supply.

Pete:

That’s all. What that means is if we didn’t list anything, we’d be sold out of inventory within a month or in about a month. That’s what that means. So of course, this goes back to the story we’ve been telling for the last few months is what’s driving all this market is just a low inventory. If you were asking me why do we have a low inventory? That’s a more interesting question. I’m not sure there is a clear answer to that. I think it’s probably a combination of a bunch of things, don’t you think? Like interest rates getting down to about 1% for a while kind of got this kicked off. But I think, like I said, Toronto and Vancouver in those areas are becoming unaffordable. So we’re seeing investors come in from those areas. I also think we went through three of the worst years in Calgary real estate board history in 2019, 2020 and 2021. They were terrible. And so I think we’re just playing a little bit of catch up. There was some pent up demand. Will it continue? It looks like it Bank of Canada raised the interest rate now by a quarter of a percent today.

Pete:

I don’t think it’s going to have much of an effect. Most people that have qualified for a mortgage have gone through a stress test, so they’re actually qualified for much higher than that. It’s not going to have much of an effect at all. You’re not going to see foreclosures and stuff like that. And I think you’re going to continue to see a really strong market just based on the fact that prices have escalated so quickly in other parts of the country and Alberta is bouncing back economically. We’re seeing oil at $100 a barrel again. It’s kind of wild. Anyway, any other questions about real estate or about Katelyn? If you have questions about Katelyn, ask me. I can come up with more creative answers. But if you have questions about questions about real estate at all, whether it’s your market, whether that’s bungalows or even your geographical market or whatever, say, “Pete, I want to know what’s going on with townhomes in Tuscany” or something like that, feel free to give us a shout. We’d be happy to answer all your questions and we try to answer questions as quickly as we can. So feel free to get in touch with us.

Pete:

My cell number so you can phone or text me here is at 403-818-7310. Do you have a cell phone?

Katelyn:

I do, yeah.

Pete:

Sweet.

Katelyn:

Oh, my gosh. Could you imagine if I did not have a cell phone.

Pete:

That’d be awful.

Katelyn:

Maybe Fax number?

Pete:

Yeah. Fax.

Katelyn:

Maybe? Fax me. No. I’m kidding. My cell phone number is 403-615-2346.

Pete:

Say that again. Slower.

Katelyn:

403-615-2346.

Pete:

Yeah. Awesome. Okay. Give one of us a call. We’d be happy to help you out. In the meantime. Have a great day!

Katelyn:

Bye!