Calgary just recorded the best-selling February of all time! But the question remains, are we in this for the long haul?
Our real estate board reported “Sales continue to surge as listings rise”, so let me take some time to make sense of this for you, plus give you my advice on what to do with it.
Yep, once again we’ve marked another notch in the record books. We just outsold the best February of all time – not just by a little – but by a whopping 25%!
We saw this by significant contributions across all property types – single family, semi-detached, apartments & row. And we saw this across pretty much all price ranges.
The hottest portion of our market was the $600K to $1 Million segment, but all ships are rising with the tide right now.
Now, big numbers are great, but they don’t really provide context. As represented by this graph (below) you can see how far ahead we truly are. We are truly a “unicorn” in comparison to our recent history here in Greater Calgary.
Now, at the same time as our new high has been recorded in the history books, our active inventory remains near all-time lows. Meaning, while we have the most demand to buy houses, those buyers have a very small amount of selection to draw from.
But the reduction in properties available to buy is not as extreme as the increase of buyer demand.
One of the reasons for that is Greater Calgarians have heard the call, and we are continuing to put historically high amounts of homes on the market – so far well surpassing year-to-date figures over the last 10 years.
But year-to-date Sales continue to have the upper hand.
And it’s for this reason that, so far in 2022 (and specifically in February) we saw prices rise significantly.
Our benchmark sales price has increased by $36,000 so far this year, and $27,000 of that was experienced in the month of February! That’s a 6% increase month-over-month. Another “wow” moment for all of us to take note of.
As impressive as that is, it’s being led by our Detached market, which has seen a nearly $50,000 benchmark price increase this year alone. But increases are being seeing in all markets:
Detached – 19% year-over-year improvement
Apartment – up 4.5%
Semi-Detached – up 16%
Rowhouses – up 13%
Our Satellite Communities are also shining bright:
Airdrie – up 20% year-over-year
Cochrane – up 20%
Okotoks – up 14%
And these double-digit increases are being seen around nearly all counties, as well. But please consult with a local expert to dial right into your specific scenario.
To me, we’ve hit the perfect storm so far in 2022.
We have seen an unprecedented increase in buyer demand for this time of the year, that has come on the scene before we’ve even come up to full speed with the major part of our listings for the spring.
So, the market’s been super, super tight. Our Days on Market is 25, way down from 45 one year ago, and our Months of Supply is down all the way to 1.1, again down from 2.5 at this time one year ago.
But we are building inventory – we have over 1,000 more homes on the market now than just 28 days ago.
So, I predict that as we transition into the true spring market, things will remain very well into “seller’s market” territory, though we may not see the same number of “multiple offers”, or the same number of “Sold in 1 day with no conditions” situations, or even the same number of showings per property as we have seen so far in 2022.
This would be good news for everyone, and certainly would helps buyers trying to get into the market. And it would allow us to keep a nice controlled growth in our housing sector rather than one teasing the word “bubble”.
Now, what is my advice for you?
I spoke at the Home & Garden Show last weekend about this exact topic – please reference our YouTube Channel for that complete 37 minute talk, if you’re interested – but today I’ll give you the “Coles Notes” as it applies to us here…
Point 1
This market is here to stay, and here to stay for a long time.
This graph may seem like a lot, but what it’s telling us is one thing – Calgary is too cheap right now.
In relation to all other Canadian Metro Cities, our Housing Price Index is extremely low. This means that for our income here in Calgary, the cost of our housing is the lowest of all major cities.
This was the case back in 2005. And it’s why we essentially doubled our house prices in 3 short years to catch up to the rest of Canada.
Due to our market dropping for the better part of 7 years, while the rest of Canada rose, we are again too cheap. We have nowhere to go but up.
As you can see by this graph, the gap between us at the bottom and the rest of Canada is significant, and it’s going to take years & years to get somewhere close. Calgary has way too much going for it with our constantly diversifying economy, with our quality of life, our proximity to the mountains, and our currently strong oil & gas economy to stay this far behind our peers.
So, this gap will close. Which means we will continue to see positive increases in our housing values, we will continue to see buyer demand from our own, from those moving here from other provinces, and others internationally. There is absolutely no doubt.
It won’t happen all now, it won’t all happen this year, it won’t all happen in a few years… but we as Albertans, and more specifically Calgarians, will be seeing positivity for a while.
So, if you need to buy, buy now and ride this up knowing you’ll continue to benefit.
If you need to sell, or are considering it, sell but stay in the market so you don’t lose buying power as the market appreciates.
If you want to invest, invest now, cause it’s only getting more expensive and will never be this cheap again.
If you don’t want to do any of the above, then don’t… and sit back and smile while your net worth grows faster from your housing than the increase in our current Canadian inflation & much better than your stock performance 🙂
Now if you are sitting back and want to access your equity, get a home equity line of credit, or re-finance. It’s a great time to sit down with your favorite lender, too. It’ll be a great time to pull the most money out if you do, indeed, need it.
Again, if you want to hear more about this, refer to the upcoming release on our YouTube channel of my 30 minute talk, or book a meeting with one of us at Redline to chart the path forward for your unique scenario.
It’s my hope that this information provided you with what you need to know about the present state of our market, but also gave you confidence that, yes, we are in this for the long haul, and real estate in Greater Calgary is a very, very safe place to be! If you need help finding a truly educated & reliable agent don’t hesitate to contact us a Redline Real Broker to be connected with a real estate professional in your market segment.
