Calgary Home Sales: Mid-May Update

(May 15 2017) After the first 2 weeks of May, sales have increased in all Calgary property segments month-to-date.

Confidence in a real estate market is a funny thing: It evaporates quickly and returns very slowly. With oil stabilizing around $50 per barrel, confidence has returned to most property sectors in Calgary, most notably detached single family homes.

Below are current sales and listing inventories for May MTD as well as well as last months numbers.

Detached Single Family Home Segment

Detached Calgary market segment represent 64% of all Calgary MLS® sales, and have increased 13.2% MTD vs last May. While the number of new listings has risen 12.6% vs last year, the total number of listed detached homes remains 11.1% lower.

Listing inventory (absorption rate) is now 2.1 months.

Most of the detached home market is currently in balance or seller's market territory, and we're seeing a competitive market in all price ranges. 19% of all detached home sales this month are for full price or more.

† from first day of month to current day

Attached Calgary Home Segment

The attached Calgary home segment has 2 sub-sectors: Townhouses & Semi-detached homes (think infills). Attached homes represent 22% of Calgary MLS® sales.

Attached Calgary home sales have increased 1.5% vs May 2016 MTD. New listings have risen 0.95% vs last year, and the total number of listings remains 9.9% lower.

Listing inventory (absorption rate) is now 3.3 months.

Calgary Apartment Segment

The Calgary apartment segment continues to be the weakest sector in Calgary's real estate market.

While new listings are down by 1/4 of one percent, active listings are 5.5% higher than last May. Sales are 3.4% ahead of last year, and the sector has a current listing inventory of 6.4 months (Buyer's market).

Given the weak demand and the continuing supply of new listings, there continues to be downward price pressure on the Calgary apartment sector. Plenty of opportunity for buyers in this market.

Combined Calgary Real Estate Sales & Listings

The combined Calgary sales and listing stats are only provided to illustrate how meaningless they are.

Calgary detached home and apartment sectors are now at opposite ends of the demand spectrum, and blending statistics from market segments headed in opposite direction only serves to create an illusion not representative of either.

For example the "Combined Calgary Listing Inventory" is now 3.0 months. That figure distorts the lower detached inventory (2.2 months) and the apartment listing inventory (6.4 months).

For what it's worth here are the combined Calgary real estate sales and listings: