It's back-to-school season! I do not miss student life but due dates & deadlines do not stop haunting me even after graduating. These monthly updates are my monthly assignments for all of you. So! August was another month of price growth for all property types. There were more new listings that came to market but it wasn't enough to pull us out of the inventory hole. Typically, the month of August sees about 6000 units for sale but this month the inventory levels dropped to a record-low of 3,254 units. This continues to push prices up and leaves the scale tipped towards sellers. The residential benchmark price for all property types reached $570,700 in August - it's been going up for the eighth month in a row. The most noticeable price gain was in the row & townhouse sector. Let's zoom in on the different property types.
DETACHED
Buyers looking for detached homes continue to face supply challenges. There was some improvement for new listings hitting the market but most of those homes are price $700,000 and above. There is very limited supply for those searching for detached homes under $700,000. The August benchmark price pushed up to $696,700 - a 1% gain from July, and more than 10% higher than August of last year. The "Most Improved Player" awards go to Calgary's East, and NE districts - these are the most affordable areas in the city and they saw the highest Y/Y price gains.
SEMI-DETACHED
A close relative to detached properties, the semi-detached market faced similar supply challenges. There were 236 new listings that came to market in August and 197 recorded sales. There was very little cushion added to the record-low inventory levels. The number of available properties for sale remained pretty comparable to the previous month but we are still 35% lower than last year's inventory levels. The tight market conditions continue to favour sellers and keep putting upward pressure on home prices. The high Y/Y gains were again, in the city's most affordable East, and NE districts.
ROWS & TOWNS
Row townhomes had another record month for sales activity. It was yet another month of tight market conditions leaving buyers with very few selections. As you can see from the sales-to-new-listings ratio of 94%, most townhomes that are priced properly will sell pretty quickly. Inventory levels were still incredibly low. There were 374 units on the market in August - almost 40% lower than same time last year but demand for more affordable multi-family properties has grown since then. Row townhomes saw the highest price growth in August. Year-over-year prices were recorded across the city, ranging from a 12% increase in the NW district to 29% in the East district.
APARTMENTS
There was a surge in apartment-style condo sales for the month of August. These were a big contributor to the record-high sales levels for Calgary this month. The high lending rates & tight rental market pushed many people to shift their focus toward apartment condos. The new listings that came to market were not quite enough to meet the demand for this product type, pushing the S/NL ratio to a whopping 98%. The benchmark price in August pushed up to $309,100 - a small price gain from July, and an almost 14% gain from August of 2022. Almost all districts in Calgary saw price growth except for City Centre, where the density helps balance supply & demand as opposed to condos in more suburban areas.
Source: creb.com
