Canmore’s resale home market is booming
Canmore’s resale housing market surged in the second quarter, the third best on record.
A report by Christian Dubois and Christopher Vincent, of Sotheby’s International Realty Canada, said 161 properties sold between April and June, a 7.5 per cent jump from the same period a year ago. Singlefamily homes and apartments were the strongest segments with 41 and 45 sales respectively, while 38 townhouses sold. The town’s strongest quarters occurred in 2006, with 180 sales, and in 2007 with 167 sales.
“There’s been some pent-up demand as well as the renewed confidence in the Alberta market in general. There’s a real return of second-home buyers,” said Vincent. “And those buyers are primarily from the Edmonton/Calgary corridor.”
The report said average and median sale prices for single-family homes both increased on an annual basis. The median sale price of a singlefamily Canmore home in the second quarter was $735,000 while the average was $889,063. A year ago the average sale price was $702,054 with the median price $650,000.
For townhouses, the average sale price in the second quarter was $539,356 and median sale price was $503,550, on par with 2013.
According to Bellstar Realty in Canmore, the average selling price of a Canmore hotel condo suite in the first half of this year increased by an unprecedented 26 per cent. In the first half of 2013, the average price of a suite was $191,432 compared with $240,365 in the first half of 2014. The number of sales also increased with 24 in the first half of 2014 compared with 17 in 2013.
“In the past, the market for hotel condos in Canmore was ridiculously low with fully furnished suites selling for 50 per cent below cost, and 50 per cent less than comparably unfurnished residential suites,” said Rudy Tomazic, vice-president of real estate with Bellstar. “In addition, the banks have been extra tough in financing condo hotel suites. As a result, investment buyers saw an opportunity and started to buy them up in 2012 and 2013 while most consumers abandoned the idea of owning a second home as a vacation property for now.”