Real estate sales continue to be strong
Strong home sales continued through September, according to the latest figures from the Medicine Hat Real Estate Board, with condos and one-off commercial and farm sales also boosting the figures.
Local board president Brooklyn Kalista had told the News this fall that the local real estate market was moving well and showing notable stability.
In the recent month, 76 detached homes changed hands for a combined total of $24.4 million, meaning that a higher average closing price was helped along by sales in the upper ranges.
The average sale price for the year thus far is $306,400, based on 761 sales. That compares to an average price at this point in 2016 of $297,100 on 753 strictly detached home sales.
Through nine months in 2017, sales volume is up about 5 per cent on virtually the same amount of sales compared to this point in 2016.
Among condo, townhouses and other residential sales, 30 units closed for a total of $6.8 million. The year-to-date average price of $211,200 is about $14,000 more than through nine months of 2016.
Helping the overall sales total in September were five commercial property sale receipts that totalled $2.9 million. Farms and multi-family sales (one each) totalled about $1 million.
Overall classes of property sales, the local market volume for nine months is $316.9 million, up 6.6. per cent over 2016 volume, but two per cent below 2015 figures.
Home starts
Home starts in Medicine Hat perked up in September, according to figures released by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, helping close the gap between 2016 totals and a sluggish start to this year.
During the month, 16 new detached home construction projects were newly underway in the he Medicine Hat region. That’s double the rate for September 2016, and pushed overall starts for the month into the positive.
For the period last year, eight single family homes were joined by six units of multi family housing for a total of 14 units.
Total new units so far in 2017 count 93, down from 125 last year.
Major centres in Alberta saw construction slow in September but are up notably from 2016. Midsized centres such as Medicine Hat, Grand Prairie and Red Deer are generally down.