It's larch season! Time to take out those warm sweaters and sip on pumpkin spice lattes. Summer came & left so quickly and if you know Calgary weather at all then you know that fall will be even quicker. Historically, real estate in September is usually on the slower side in comparison to the spring. Young families may want to finish moving into their new homes before the children start the school year, sellers may pull their listings from the market because it's harder to accommodate showings in the colder months. This year however, there were 2,162 sales in the month of September and that's the highest for the month in 16 years. I don't think it would be far from the truth to say that these numbers are driven by people that weren't able to make their purchase earlier this year when supply levels were tighter. It's not too late! It might even be a bit easier to find a home now that supply levels are adjusting accordingly. Let's take a closer look.
DETACHED
There was a small sigh of relief for buyers looking for detached homes this month. This month's benchmark price came down just a tad but obviously not nearly enough to offset the first three quarters; we are still about 10% higher than September 2020. All districts in Calgary saw price improvements this month, keeping the benchmark price from showing any significant dip. Price gains were not equal across the board though. City Centre saw modest price gains of about 5%, whereas the SE district rose 12%.
SEMI-DETACHED
It has been a good year for this property type with significant price gains since the beginning of the year. Year-to-date sales are more than 45% higher than long-term trends. Market conditions are not as tight as the detached segment and this may have caused some consumers to shift their focus from detached homes to semi-detached homes. This property type could also look more attractive because of increased inventory - more options for house-hunters! The sales-new listings ratio was just over 70% this month and not nearly as tight as the detached ratio of more than 80%.
ROW & TOWNS
Sales moving in a positive direction across the city in this property type. The SE district was the largest growth. Market conditions are tight, with a sales-new listings ratio of about 76%, keeping the YTD townhome sales 62% higher than long-term trends. The benchmark price dipped ever so slightly by 0.33% compared to last month, but still remains over 7% above fall time last year.
APARTMENTS
This property type has always lagged behind in sales activity & price growth. Apartment supply remains higher than shown demand, preventing any significant price gains. That being said, months of supply fell under 5 months in September which is much lower than levels recorded in the past five years - hang in there sellers! Market conditions have generally been more balanced than the other property types. Benchmark price came down a smidge less than 0.05% from last month but is 1.24% higher than this time last year.
Source: creb.com
