Calgary Real Estate Marketing Trends

Real estate in Calgary is becoming poised to become red hot in the projected future. Current trends suggest that the Calgary real estate market is becoming positioned to become one of the top markets in the country. The Canadian Real Estate Association just recently released a report of May 16, 2012 which revealed that that MLS sales in April have increased by 30% over last year compared to a national average increase of 11.5%.

Additionally, the report also says that the good news is that prices for the average home in Calgary was relatively modest and rose by 0.7% compared to an average national increase of 0.9%. The average price for a home in Calgary currently stands at $414,932.

It was also reported that new listings in the city of Calgary saw an increase to 4.4% to 4,370 over that seen in April, 2011. In all of Alberta, sales for homes rose by 23.5%.

Another very bright spot highlighting the Calgary real estate market is that luxury homes are currently seeing a major boom in the city. First quarter sales this year on homes over 1 million dollars have seen their highest sales since 2007.

A 2012 report by the Upper Market Trends says that 115 homes worth a million plus dollar changed hands in the first quarter of this year compared to 106 homes which changed hands in the same quarter in 2011. The availability of these higher end homes is becoming tighter towards the inner core of the city, especially in the more established areas such as Mount Royal, Bonavista and Elbow Park.

Some analysts predict if the oil and gas sectors maintain their current price levels, then this will continue to stimulate continuing economic growth in the province. Inevitably, this will encourage the migration of new workers to Alberta increasing the demand for real estate. Observers note that a lot of international companies are seeing a lot of transfer movement back to Calgary.

However, even without a new wave of worker migration, buyers should take note that although price increases are still modest, the supply of available housing is beginning to tighten up which could increase home prices more substantially. Like any market, it always comes down to supply and demand.

Real estate investment continues to be one of the most popular investment choices for Calgarians because of the relative stability of the housing market.  Additionally, as interest rates are predicted to remain low for the rest of 2012, the housing market continues to be a good drawing card for investors. The only blight on this picture is that because of the continued increase in housing prices, affordability has slightly dampened overall sales.

Nationally, the experts predict that housing sales will be relatively flat overall and are expected to be around 2% compared to 7% in the previous two years. Because of these predictions compared to the projected growth for real estate, the City of Calgary may once again take over as the hottest real estate market in the country.