Low inventory, competing offers, and increasing prices remain the mainstream topics of today’s market. Much to the delight of Calgary homeowners, we continue to see a very strong seller’s market.
Many sellers are seeing multiple offers within a few days of hitting the market. The backlog of eager buyers is causing things to move quickly. The average number of days on market for detached homes in the first quarter of the year is 18, which is half the amount of time it took to sell in Q1 last year.
Detached homes seem to drive the results for all property types. As prices increase and inventory levels remain low, buyers are resorting to semi-detached, townhomes and apartments in order to get into the market before interest rates and prices rise further. In March, the Bank of Canada announced the first rate increase since March 2020 and most predictions are for several more increases this year.
Starting the year with three consecutive months of increases, the overall benchmark price for Calgary has risen by nearly $55,000 since December and currently sits nearly 18% higher than last year’s levels.
Detached homes increased 2% from December to January, 6% from January to February, and 4% from February to March, totaling a 12% increase since December 2021. These are numbers that Calgary has never seen and they are being influenced by a range of factors including out-of-province buyers (both investors and people moving to Alberta) and an improving economy.
For the month of March alone, the benchmark price for detached homes in Calgary rose to $620,500. That is over $73,000 higher than four months ago and over $105,000 (20%) higher than March 2021. These significant gains have resulted in over 57% of properties currently on the market being priced over $600,000.
SEMI-DETACHED
Semi-detached sales posted another record month of sales and year-to-date sales are over 43% higher than last year. More new listings are hitting the market, but the number of sales is keeping up. This pushed the months of supply down to a shockingly low 1.1, which means that if no new listings hit the market, the current listings would all sell out in just over a month!
These tight conditions caused prices to trend up again this month for another 4% increase. This totals a 10.6% jump in price over the last 3 months.
TOWNHOMES
Townhome sales reached an all-time record high this month (709) which contributed to 1,550 total units sold in Q1. This is a 96% increase over last year. Continuing the trend of breaking records, the months of supply dropped to 0.89 for March. Townhomes on average sold 1.3% over the list price in Q1 and the benchmark price in March was nearly 17% higher year-over-year.
APARTMENTS
Last but not least, the apartment market has finally seen some real improvements! In March, the benchmark price rose to $265,900 – nearly 3% higher than last month and 6% higher than last year. The months of supply dropped below 2 for the first time since August 2013. We’ve seen a steady decrease this quarter – January was 2.99, February was 1.89 and March finished at 1.51.
Records are also being broken in Airdrie, Cochrane, and Okotoks.
Airdrie:
- This quarter saw 58% more sales than last year.
- The months of supply reached 0.66. The only other time this has been below 1 month was Q4 2021.
- The average days on the market was 16. The previous low was 28 days back in Q2 2014.
Cochrane:
- March was the 5th consecutive month with a supply below 1 month (0.56). Prior to 2021, this number had never been lower than 2.2.
- The average days on market for the quarter was 19. The previous low was 33 back in Q2 2021.
- The benchmark price reached $520,000, 23% higher than a year ago.
Okotoks:
- The town saw 235 sales in the last 3 months, 26% more than last year and a new record for the quarter
- All-time low inventory level – currently 0.82 months of supply.
- The benchmark price for March is $534,200, 12.5% higher than last year.
These numbers may seem crazy (they are!) but this is not to scare you as a buyer. It is important to manage your expectations and put a strategy in place to achieve your goals if you are thinking about buying. With market conditions this tight, prices will likely continue to rise for the next few months. Talk to your team of real estate professionals today to decide whether or not now is the right time for you.
If you are thinking about selling, it likely IS a great time to sell! However, you still want a strong strategy for achieving the best price and terms and you need a plan in place for wherever you are going next! Talk to us today to get started.
– Parker and Amie
