The following article in the Calgary Herald was originally published May 12th. I was asked to quote on the overall strength of the market and attitudes of Albertans buying this year. 2 min read.
Homeownership attitudes reflect recent strength of housing market
Record levels of low supply of homes for buyers to choose from has pushed prices up this spring. The main culprit is lack of new home inventory to keep pace with net migration and demand. But, relief is on the way as new subdivisions and projects come on stream. Check out the recent Calgary Herald article I initiated to explore and start a conversation on the causes of why new construction starts are way down in our region from last year.
https://calgaryherald.com/life/homes/calgary-short-on-housing-supply
The graphs and numbers speak for themselves. April 2023 was a big month for resale real estate in the Calgary region. We are following the typical cycle of a hot spring market and our early spring/summer temperatures have started things early. Supply continues to be an issue with new building starts challenged. We need more new inventory to balance our local market and provide homes for people to live in. Until new housing starts improve, tight resale market conditions will remain. The big question is why are our new housing starts falling behind the rest of Western Canada?
The last week of April has seen a sharp uptick in interest to buy real estate as our weather becomes warmer and people feel renewed after a long winter. Final numbers for the month are not in yet, but it appears the past week has seen a nice rebound in all market segments. Interest in the $1mil+ market is extremely strong in both the City of Calgary and Rural areas which I find to be a bellwether for overall market confidence. We are on track to see records shattered for acreage sales. Calgary will hit close to record volumes in the $1mil+ market. The mid market has picked up nicely and the under $650,000 market is staying very strong. I will update once the final April data comes in. Interesting times indeed.
