The January 2009 Calgary Real Estate Board statistics were released by the CREB yesterday with no big surprises. We saw the expected bump in number of sales compared with the holiday month of December 2008 (up 22%). During the month, single family home sale prices averaged $413,000 - down about 1% from last month.

The number of listings on the market is holding steady around 4,000 and with the increased sales this has resulted in a reversal of the supply vs. demand chart I've been updating periodically. It's still a strong buyers market with 7.35 months of supply for Single Family Homes and 8.55 months of supply for condominiums.

Most people who are house-hunting in this market will tell you that the numbers can be a bit deceiving. With close to 8 months of supply you would expect to have an enormous selection of immaculate, well priced homes to choose from. The reality is that a relatively small number of properties are outshining the competition and those are the ones selling quickly and close close to their asking price. I talked more about the general feelings I'm seeing in the market in a recent podcast episode.



The level of supply was fairly predictable at around 5 months until October 2008 when the "credit crunch" took a lot of people out of the market and caused sales to slow down significantly. Now with reduced interest rates and more predictable lending it we hope to see the oposite effect.