CITY HOUSE PRICES EDGE UP 0.7 PER CENT

People selling single-family homes in Calgary last month made about $3,600 more than similar listings sold a year earlier.

The benchmark price on single-family homes was $502,800 in February, marking a 0.7 per cent uptick year over year, says the Calgary Real Estate Board.

Last month’s price was also an improvement over January 2018, when it was $499,200.

Benchmark prices are that of a typical home based on a formula that uses various factors to ensure accurate comparisons.

Leading the city in price growth last month were areas CREB defines as the city centre and west Calgary, each rallying four per cent year over year. The benchmark in the city centre was $696,700 and west Calgary’s was $732,100.

Here are five things from Calgary’s resale single-family home market last month, writes Josh Skapin.

1.

Transactions cooled by 20 per cent compared to February 2017. There were new owners for 657 single-family homes last month, down from 822 a year ago. Resale in February 2018 topped the previous two months, which had new owners for 616 and 583 homes, respectively.

2.

An area CREB dubs south Calgary paced all ends of the city with sales on 137 single-family homes last month. The neighbourhoods of Chaparral and Evergreen led this area with 12 transactions apiece.

Overall Coventry Hills, Cranston and McKenzie Towne were the busiest communities for single-family resale. Coventry Hills posted 18 sales with a benchmark price of $384,300, and the southeast Calgary communities of Cranston and McKenzie Towne had 17 each, with benchmark prices of $490,200 and $419,200, respectively.

The only other neighbourhoods in double-digit sales last month were New Brighton, McKenzie Lake, Mahogany, Douglasdale/Glen, Copperfield, Panorama Hills, Evanston, and Tuscany, says CREB.

3.

There were 1,293 new listings of single-family homes last month, mirroring the tally from February 2017, says CREB. Supply of single-family homes reached 2,456 units last month, topping the figure from the same time last year by 23 per cent.

4.

Southeast Calgary had the highest level of new listing growth of any end of the city in February. Here, its 221 additions to the market jumped 27 per cent year over year. Leading this part of Calgary were McKenzie Towne with 114 per cent growth and Copperfield with 71 per cent.

When it came to single-family supply, south Calgary carried the pace with 445 available homes. It was trailed by north Calgary with 379 homes, southeast Calgary with 354, and the city centre with 337.

5.

The price bracket of $400,000 to $449,999 was the busiest for single-family resale activity, accounting for 111 of last month’s sales. In February 2017, units priced $450,000 to $499,999 saw the highest volume with 127 sales. Last month, this bracket had 81, says CREB.

The most substantial growth last month came from the higher end of the market. Homes priced $1 million to about $1.5 million grew to 32 transactions, up from 24 year over year.