March 2011 Calgary Real Estate Statistics

It was a Jekyll and Hyde sort of month with the potion being the mortgage rule changes on March 18th.  More on this later, but first let’s recap the numbers:

Single Family Homes

Prices remained virtually unchanged from February with the average price inching up 0.25% to $462,947. The median price remained flat at $400,000.

Year-over-year, prices were down on both counts.   The average price decreased 1.8% from $471,269 while the median price plummeted 5.4% or $23,000 from last March.

SFH Prices (click to enlarge)

A total of 1355 properties sold, marking a 16% jump from last month when only 1169 homes sold.  However, this was down 2.9% from last March when there were 1396 sales.

Inventory rose 14.8% to end the month with 4024 active listings, which is on par with last March’s month-end of 4014.

After tracking above last year’s levels for the first few months of 2011, pending sales dipped after the rule changes came into effect.  What remains to be seen is if this is a temporary vacuum created by pulled forward demand or a more permanent development.

SFH Pending Sales (click to enlarge)

Condos

Condo average and median prices were down month-over-month and also from the previous year.

The average condo price sold in March was $280,781 - down from the $290,145 recorded in February and down from $296,660 seen last March.  The median price didn’t fair any better, declining $11,000 from last month to $256,000. That’s also down 6.9% from last year when the median was $275,000.

Condo Prices (click to enlarge)

Sales increased 24% from the previous month to a total of 581.   However, this was a 4.9% drop from last March when 609 condos changed hands.

A positive development for condo sellers was the amount of inventory at the end of March.  There were only 1913 active listings compared to 2148 available last year – almost an 11% drop.

Condo Pending (click to enlarge)

It’s quite evident rule changes gave the market a boost for the first half of the month.  Average sales per day dropped following March 18th for both SFH and condos (even when removing weekend  figures)

Pending sales also made evident that buyer intention has waned, but of those purchasing, they will be buying at a higher price-point as indications are that prices will be rising next month due to the different sales mix.

For more information on how the mortgage rule changes affected the Calgary market, please read a previous post, “Rule Changes Impacting Market?”  I’m sure CREB will rephrase their position of the changes having “no significant impact” to the Calgary market to something such as it having  a “temporary” or “short-term” impact in light of the  price declines March suffered.  (EDIT:  Not a single mention of the mortgage rule changes or subsequent effect on the market in CREB’s month-end report. Report SCRIBD below)

If you’re interested in following the Calgary real estate market, visit my webpage where the stats are updated daily.

If you have any questions, or whenever you’re ready to buy or sell real estate, please feel free to contact me.