Calgary’s July market cool downed from the previous month but showed improvement on a year-over-year basis.
There were 1153 Single Family Home (SFH) sales recorded in July, a drop of 17.5% from June. However, this was an increase of 26% over July 2010 when only 914 homes were sold.
Average prices declined on a MoM and YoY basis. July’s average price dropped over $23,000 from the previous month to end up at $455,849. That’s nearly a 5% drop in one month. (Note: There were 50 properties that sold in June for $1M+ compared to 28 in July) Year-over-year, the decline was less substantial: -1.8%
The SFH median price dropped 2% from June to $409,000. This was up 2.25% from last July when the median was $400,000.
Inventory continued to slowly dwindle to 4630 active properties by the end of the month. That’s 2.4% less listings than the previous month and 16% less than July 2011 when there were 5525 homes for sale.
SFH Pending Sales (click to enlarge)
SFH weekly sales (click to enlarge)
Metro-Calgary Condominiums
July’s total sales came to 453 units which was down -22% from June’s total but an increase of 14% year-over-year. It’s the second consecutive month sales have shown a year-over-year increase. Before June & July, we had to go all the way back to April 2010 to find the last time sales were up on an annual basis.
The average price was $286,445: down -3.4% from June, and down -1.6% from last July.
Bucking the average price trend, median prices were up 1.5% from the previous month and up 0.4% from July 2010 to end up at $269,000.
Condo inventory declined slightly from June to 2023 active units. That’s over 18% less units for sale than this time last year.
Condo Pending (click to enlarge)
Condo Weekly Sales (click to enlarge)
With inventory remaining fairly static but sales dropping off, condominiums are now at a 4.4 inventory absorption rate meaning that the market generally favors buyers.
There is currently less supply for SFH’s – inventory absorption rate sits at 4.0 at the end of July which is the cut-off between a balanced and buyer’s market. That’s the highest rate since November 2010 when it was at 4.3
From this week’s CREN News:
Alberta time share operation faces numerous charges
The Alberta government has charged an Alberta-based time share operation with 192 counts under the Criminal Code and the province’s consumer protection legislation following a three-year investigation.
In all, four companies and two individuals are charged:
Chateau World Vacations Inc., and its director Kim Schram of Edmonton; and Properties International Ltd., Royal Crown Resorts Ltd., Royal Club Resorts Inc., and their director Andre Muran of Canmore.
Combined charges include 168 Criminal Code counts of fraud over $5,000 and 24 Fair Trading Act charges of misleading or deceiving consumers; misrepresenting a consumer’s rights, remedies or obligations; and using exaggeration, innuendo or ambiguity of material fact in a consumer transaction. The parties are scheduled to appear in Calgary provincial court on August 4.
The four companies ran the time share operation at different times, offering access to Chateau Canmore Resort in Canmore, and the Banff Gate Mountain Lodge and Spa in Harvie Heights.
The charges are based on complaints dating back to 2008 from 59 consumers with losses totaling more than $1 million. Consumers signed time share contracts that stipulated the club facilities were held in trust. This should have protected consumers if the business became insolvent, however it is alleged the stipulation was false.
You can read the entire release at Gov’t of Alberta website
Yields Crash, Lower Fixed Mortgage Rates Coming
The 5-year bond yield has nose-dived 16 bps today, crashing through “support” at 2.00%. It’s the biggest plunge in yields since March 2009.
Read more at Canadian Mortgage Trends