Lately the news has been flooded with articles about the affordable housing market in Alberta. All this excitement was the result of the release of the RBC November report on Housing Trends & Affordability.
You may have heard Alberta had the lowest affordability measures of all the provinces in Canada:
Detached bungalow: 32.8%
Standard two-storey: 36.0%
Standard condominium: 21.3%
Calgary housing affordability was slightly higher than the provincial numbers but "continues to be one of the most affordable major cities in the country":
Detached Calgary bungalow: 37.6%
Standard Calgary two-storey: 38.2%
Standard Calgary condominium: 23.2%
This sounds great, but what exactly does it all mean? Where do these numbers come
Where do Calgarian's with high net-worth buy property in the city? Overwhelmingly it seems in Southwest Calgary Neighbourhoods:
two-thirds (68%) of Calgary luxury sales are in SW Calgary
one-quarter (24%) of Calgary luxury sales are in NW Calgary
one-tenth (9%) of Calgary luxury sales are in SE Calgary
Notably, there have been no million dollar+ sales in NE Calgary year-to-date
There have been 417 "million dollar+ sales" year to date in metro Calgary. This number represents the highest percentage of luxury sales to total metro sales recorded in any of the past 5 years:
2011: 417 luxury sales out of a total 16,922 metro sales = 2.46% *year-to-date*
"Pay attention. Something's happening here" is what Don R Campbell, well known Vancouver author & president of the Real Estate Investment Network says about the Calgary real estate market.
Campbell is paying attention to the reports coming out showing positive economic news for Alberta and Calgary. Good economic growth. In-migration levels rising. And employment growth leading the way in Canada.
Campbell has long held the view that real estate booms are preceded by predicable market cycles. Initially a market sees GDP & job growth, followed by an inflow of population. This is followed by increased rental demand coupled with decreased vacancies & rising rents, and ultimately rising purchase demand for home & condos and increased property prices.
Lately the news has been flooded with articles about the affordable housing market in Alberta. All this excitement was the result of the release of the RBC November report on Housing Trends & Affordability.
