Moving Calgary Forward

I’ve just finished uploading a new listing and virtual tour for a 2 bedroom, 2.5 bath townhome with attached double garage located at Mosaic Mercato in Tuscany. Access the virtual tour here.

In January I sent a letter I called ‘State of the Market’ to all of my clients (you can access a copy here). At that time we were at the early stage of the financial crisis and were being bombarded by negative headlines about the real estate market and the overall economic conditions. It has been a very eventful six months since then so I thought it would be worthwhile reviewing that newsletter and updating you on today’s state of the market.

In my last state of the market I commented about the fact that inventory had decreased by 30% from its high in April 2008, “Although the level of demand is typically low heading into the holiday season, a relatively small change in demand would have a significant positive influence on the pace of the market given the current supply level”. That’s exactly what has happened, the current inventory level of single family homes is 3,404 listings, roughly half as many homes as were on the market last year. There is now just 2 months of supply of listings compared with about 9 months supply in January.

The pace of home sales has increased every month this year to 1,837 single family and 738 condo sales last month - up about 30% from June 2008.

With the increased pace of sales prices have increased too. The average sale price of a single family home last month was $447,142 - UP 7.1% year-to-date. The average for condo sales last month was $285,595 - UP 3.8% year-to-date. This performance both in terms of price and the number of sales is far better than many people would have predicted at the start of the year.

If you’ve been waiting for the market conditions to improve before putting your home up for sale, this summer may be your window of opportunity to move up. Call me today to discuss the marketing and sale of your home.

Does this mean the buyer’s market is over? It’s true that things have changed quite a bit over the past six months, but there are still terrific opportunities to be had for the educated buyer with a good plan and a professional buyer’s agent. If you’re considering a purchase please get in touch with me so we can develop a plan to get you the best value on a home that’s perfect for you.

Remember - download my July 2009 client newsletter here. The full newsletter includes featured properties, current mortgage rates and an update from Crazy House staging and Arthur Chocholacek from Investors Group.

I just finished uploading the virtual tour for Marianne’s new listing in Copperfield. Check out the photos and tour of this 4 bedroom bi-level in a quiet park-side location.

I was pleasantly surprised to learn that today’s edition of the Metro in Calgary featured me on a list of the Top 5 Real Estate Agents recommended on Metro’s Gigpark service. You can find all sorts of recommendations there and if you feel so inclined you can even add a comment to the existing recommendation for me and I’d really appreciate it.

I just finished inputting a great new listing which is on the top floor in Taralake Place at 1140 Taradale Drive NE. Have a look at the virtual tour for this very large 1 bedroom suite at www.TaraLakeCondo.com.

No open public houses have been scheduled but this home can easily be viewed by appointment. Please contact me with any questions or to arrange a viewing.

The number of sales in the single family and condominium markets continue to out-pace last year’s numbers by a 28-36% margin. Listing inventories are continuing to decrease week over week. The complete stats for the month of June will be out next week, so far the average sale price of a single family home over the past 30 days is $441,449 (median of $395,000). The average price is up 1.15% in the past month, up 5.76% year-to-date.

This update covers the activity for the period of June 1 - June 24, 2009

This report is based on data made available by the Calgary Real Estate Board on June 26, 2009.

Here are some quick links to help in comparing different communities, helpful in the early stages of house-hunting:

Schools

Public schools by community
Calgary Catholic Schools
Calgary Private and Charter Schools

Neighbourhood Profiles & Demographics

Community Profiles
Historical Real Estate values by community

Transit

Calgary Transit main page
Google Transit
Calgary Transit trip planner
Current LRT service
Future West LRT line

Crime Statistics

Calgary Police crime statistics by community
Calgary Police interactive crime map

This update covers the activity for the period of June 1 - June 17, 2009

This report is based on data made available by the Calgary Real Estate Board on June 19, 2009.