Calgary realtors are waiting to see if a sobering trend emerges this spring after housing sales in the city took a steep dive last month.
According to the Calgary Real Estate Board, January’s housing sales were the lowest the city has seen in five years.
Sales were 35 per cent lower than the 10-year average and declined for all types of housing.
Consumers’ confidence, industry experts say, is being shaken by plunging oil prices and concerns over job security.
Realtor Paula Leemans says the days of Calgary’s hot housing market from several years ago are long gone.
“Sellers, we’re not going to sell in two days, we’re not going to sell in a week,” Leemans said in an interview with CTV Calgary. “We are going to sell at a normal time. Look at every other province, they have days on the market that are a lot higher than ours.”
According to The Calgary Real Estate Board, there were only 880 sales in Calgary last month, down 39 per cent from January 2014.
There were however, a lot of new listings, despite January being the slowest time of the year for house sales. Nearly 3,300 went on the market, an increase of 37 per cent from the same time last year.
But experts are not yet calling Calgary a buyers’ market. The true test will be in the spring, they say.
“If things start to improve, that can help boost consumer confidence and stabilize the situation,” said Anne-Marie Laurie, CREB’s chief economist. “If we start to see that those job losses are greater than expected and economic conditions worsen, you’re likely to see that the housing market will cool.”
Leemans said with lots of choice and very low interest rates, it’s still a good time to buy if you’re in the market.
“Buyers are waiting and wanting to know when is it going to be the very, very best time,” Leemans said. “I don’t blame them for that. But you don’t know the future.
“So if you’re ready to buy, you have a great rate. Do it.”
Housing prices stable
Right now, the missing factor for a true buyers’ market is lower prices. The Calgary Real Estate Board says prices are remaining relatively stable.
“What’s interesting to me is not just that listings are up, but in the fact that we’ve had the supply levels rise relative to the fall in demand and prices have actually remained stable, which tells me that there isn’t that urgency to sell,” Laurie said.
The benchmark price for Calgary -- which takes into account all the detached, attached and apartment-style condos -- was $459,100 in January. That’s up 7.7 per cent from January 2014.
It’s a decent increase, however the real estate board points out that the rest of 2014 was a strong year for sales and prices.
However, prices for apartment-style condos started to creep down by $2,000 between December and January.
Meanwhile, in order to gauge if January is the beginning of a new trend, realtors are waiting to see what happens with oil prices and the economy.
With a report by CTV Calgary’s Shaun Frenette
