Resale home activity in the second quarter of this year, mostly preceding recent flooding, remained strong, with sales increasing 4.6 per cent and prices by six per cent.
Supply is tightening, with inventory down by 17 per cent on average in the quarter as home buyers who are experiencing tight supply in Calgary look to surrounding areas. The declining supply in the towns is driving price growth, but many of the surrounding communities are still in price recovery compared to peak periods in 2007.
“The surrounding towns are an affordable and attractive option for many buyers,” said CREB® president Becky Walters. “Even with tighter inventories, there are some very attainable family homes.”
The city of Airdrie saw sales growth of 14 per cent in the quarter, as the number of new listings improved. However, new listings are still down three per cent year-to-date, resulting in a tighter market conditions and contributing to price growth. In Okotoks, June prices are up 4.4 per cent year over year, with the single family benchmark price just $600 shy of the $395,200 unadjusted peak recorded in July 2007.
Sales activity in Cochrane remained largely unchanged from 2012, but a five per cent decline in new listings has tightened supply, fueling price recovery. The benchmark single family price of $404,000 in June is up five per cent year over year, but still six per cent below the 2007 pricing peak.
“Many of these surrounding communities are still in price recovery,” said CREB® chief economist AnnMarie Lurie. “Despite tight supplies in the resale market, prices are not expected to grow faster because there is competition from the new home market.”
The floods in southern Alberta will have an impact on the total towns sales and activity figures in the next quarter and beyond, Lurie says. Before it was devastated by the high waters, High River accounted for nearly seven per cent of the sales and listings activity represented in the surrounding area figures.
The flood’s impact on the High River housing sectors is likely to be more extreme than in some of the inner city communities of Calgary, given the widespread impact on the town’s residential and business community. It is reasonable to assume this event will have long-term impacts on the community unless significant changes are made to address future flooding risk.
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