Calgary to see home prices up 5% this year, Royal LePage predicts

Calgary’s home prices are expected to rise five per cent year-over-year by the end of the year, reports Royal LePage in its recent house price survey and market survey forecast.

“Home prices continue to rise in Calgary, as many areas within the region transition to seller’s markets,” John Hripko, associate broker at Royal LePage Benchmark, said in a news release about the report released July 13. “With oil prices having stabilized around $ 45, prospective homeowners have increasingly been enticed back into the market, placing a strain on inventory levels across the region.”

Calgary’s fourth quarter 2016 aggregate home price was $459,181. Royal LePage predicts this will rise to $482,140, a five-per cent increase, in 2017’s final quarter.

When looking at specific housing type, the median price for twostorey homes increased the most year-over-year in the second quarter of 2017, growing 5.3 per cent to $518,632 from $492,608.

The median bungalow price posted a 4.1 per cent boost during the same time, from $485,953 from $466,687. Condominiums, meanwhile, stayed virtually the same, with a decrease of 0.3 per cent, to $294,436 from $295,209 year over year in the second quarter.

The Bank of Canada’s recent move to hike its benchmark interest rate to 0.75 from 0.5 per cent sparked a rise in prime-rate mortgage rates by Canada’s major banks, which may initially create further demand in the market.

“If interest rates steadily climb over the next couple of years, as anticipated, buyers sitting on the fence will increasingly feel the heat and look to the market before it is too late, boosting sales activity and intensifying market trends across the region,” Hripko said.

Nationally, Canada’s residential real estate market posted doubledigit home price gains in the second quarter of 2017. The price of a home in Canada increase 13.8 per cent year-over-year to $609,144, calculated the Royal LePage National House Price Composite.

The price of a two-storey home rose 14.6 per cent year-over- year to $725,391, while the price of a bungalow increased by 10.7 per cent to $511,965. Over the same period, the price of a condominium climbed 13.4 per cent to $397,826.

The higher-than-normal rate of national house price appreciation is being driven by a very strong yearover-year price growth in Ontario.

“Following a period of unprecedented regional disparity in activity and price appreciation, we are now seeing a return to healthy growth in the majority of Canadian housing markets,” said Phil Soper, president and CEO of Royal LePage. “The white-hot markets are moderating to very warm; the depressed markets are beginning to grow again. Canadian housing is in great shape — a statement that I certainly did not make last quarter.”