Calgary continues to see slowing in housing- price gains
A report by the Canadian Real Estate Association says the Calgary housing market continued to see a slowdown in price gains in June.
The association’s, MLS Home Price Index, released on Wednesday, which tracks benchmark, or typical, property sales in specific markets, said Calgary saw a yearoveryear increase of just 0.48 per cent last month.
“This was the smallest gain in nearly four years and makes a full year of monthly slowdowns in the rate of year- over- year price growth,” said the CREA report.
Nationally, of the 12 major markets surveyed in Canada, the index was up 5.43 per cent from a year ago.
Robert Kavcic, senior economist with BMO Capital Markets, said a “deep dive” in new listings in Calgary, down 23.5 per cent yearoveryear, “has helped rebalance the market and stem the price decline” as the HPI has held steady over the past two months.
Across Canada, June set a record for the month with 56,839 MLS sales, up 11 per cent from a year ago and 14 per cent above the 10- year average. In Calgary, transactions of 2,795 were down 21.7 per cent year- over- year while in Alberta sales dropped by 14.3 per cent to 6,673.
According to the Calgary Real Estate Board, month- to- date between July 1- 14, MLS sales in Calgary are down 16.57 per cent from the same period a year ago and the average sale price is off by 2.71 per cent.
Corinne Lyall, CREB’s president, said July is always an interesting month for the real estate market locally as the Calgary Stampede takes place during this time.
“May and June were pretty much copy cats to each other . . . things stabilized quite a bit. The market kind of balanced out,” she said. "Obviously, there’s still some concerns about the energy sector and where that’s going to go. So it’s hard to say right now.
“In my experience over 18- some odd years in real estate is that in July things tend to slow down a little bit. People tend to go on vacations and there’s just less activity. Currently, it’s hard to put your finger on that dial and be able to tell exactly is it completely related to what’s happening in the economy or is it a seasonal expectation in terms of the housing market.”
Lyall said there are still concerns about what is going to happen in the future with a number of people in the wait- and- see mode.
CREA’s report said the average MLS sale price in June for Calgary dipped by 0.2 per cent from a year ago to $ 465,965 and it was down one per cent in Alberta to $ 403,087. Across Canada, the average price rose by 9.6 per cent to $ 453,560.