Year of fluctuation in housing prices for southern Alberta towns
While housing prices remained relatively stable in Lethbridge, residents of some nearby towns saw dramatic ups and downs.
The average 2018 selling price in Pincher Creek rose more than $30,000, for example. But it dropped by a discouraging $64,000 in Nobleford last year.
Fewer homes changed hands in 2018 compared to 2017, according to year-end results posted by the Lethbridge and District Association of Realtors.
But there were exceptions. In Magrath, the 29 residential sales last year were up 10 from 2017 while the average price rose about $18,000 to $244,772. And in Picture Butte, last year’s 38 sales were up four – and the average price increased $19,000 to reach $229,879.
Sales were also up in Fort Macleod, 53 in 2018 vs. 39 a year earlier. But the average sale price fell about $34,000 to $186,877. That happened in Nobleford as well; while 2018 sales increased from 21 to 35, the average sale price was just $194,189 compared with $258,457 the year before.
Pincher Creek’s price improvement came on 41 sales – down from 50 in 2017 – as the average price advanced to $251,992. The foothills town shares the quarter-million dollar category with Coaldale, Coalhurst and large-lot Stirling.
Coaldale, with 163 sales, was second only to Lethbridge in sales volume. That number was down from 179 in 2017; the average price was also down by a little more than $3,000 to $279,099.
Taber, more dependent on the oilpatch, saw sales decline as well, from 137 in 2017 to 124 last year. The average sale price also fell – by about $25,000 to $213,319. The news was better in Vauxhall, where 18 sales were an improvement of seven and average prices soared to $187,211 from a low $124,818 just a year earlier. Sales took quite a hit in Coalhurst, down to 38 from 54 a year earlier. But the average price moved up nearly $5,000 to reach $255,029.
So, too, in Cardston. The average sale price there increased about $23,000 to $239,900 although sales slipped by one-third to 26 last year vs. 39 in 2017.
Sales held fairly steady in Raymond last year, 49 compared with 52 the year earlier. But sales values slumped about $5,000 to settle at $217,432.
Down the line at Stirling, however, fewer sales didn’t keep prices down. They jumped more than $30,000 to $266,727 on a volume of 11 sales, down seven from 2017.