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DIGITAL DOWNLOW A6
COMMUNITY PROFILE
MARDA LOOP
A5
COMMUNITY A4
FREE apr 14 to apr 20 2017 issue 07-14 editorial 403-781-1319 advertising 403-263-4940 crebnow@creb.ca
real estate news from industry experts
1906 1342 931
947
1923
2028 1746
1588 763
*All statistics based on monthly data compiled by CREB® via MLS® activity. Includes detached, attached and apartment.
three months of the year compared with the same period in 2016. But prices have continued to fall over this span year-over-year. This comes as no surprise, says Robin Wiebe, senior economist at the Centre for Municipal Studies with The Conference Board of Canada (CBoC). “The real problem has been for developers who got excited during the boom before the oil prices collapsed,” he said, adding these developments were driven by high demand and low supply, which resulted from bullish economic conditions buoyed by $100 barrel oil. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) data shows that completed and unoccupied apartments could be “counted on one hand in the city of Calgary” before the downturn, Wiebe says. Correspondingly, the market
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responded by ramping up supply. But many developers’ timing could not have been worse. “The price of oil collapsed and all these guys lured in by the low inventory are now sitting with completed projects or nearing completion, and there just aren’t enough buyers.” The latest CMHC numbers point to the extent of the problem – almost a 400 per cent increase in new apartment units completed and unoccupied year-over-year. Today, more than 800 new units are on the market compared with 222 the same time last year, Wiebe says.
ECONOMY A3
ORGANIZATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A4 Dealing with moving stress
MUNICIPAL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A5 Anthem United
anada’s housing starts trended higher at 211,342 units in March, compared to 205,521 units in February 2017, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). This trend measure is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of housing starts.
HOUSING STARTS A3
The supply of apartment units has risen substantially since last year.
NEWS BRIEFS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A3
CREB® STAFF
C
JESSE YARDLEY / FOR CREB®NOW
CONTENTS
HOUSING STARTS ON THE RISE IN MARCH
MAR15 APR15 MAY15 JUN15 JUL15 AUG15 SEP15 OCT15 NOV15 DEC15 JAN16 FEB16 MAR16 APR16 MAY16 JUN16 JUL16 AUG16 SEP16 OCT16 NOV16 DEC16 JAN17 FEB17 MAR17
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1127
1263
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1764
1995
2190 1643
1782
1957
2184
CITY OF CALGARY
MLS® TOTAL SALES* MAR ’15 – MAR ’17
1227
I
f Calgary’s housing market was a hospital patient, it would have been in intensive care for the last year. Today, though, the patient is showing
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for creb®now
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JOEL SCHLESINGER
fewer listings have been coming onto the market reducing inventory and supporting some price stability,” she said. In March 2017, detached resales increased by 17 per cent compared with the same period last year, and inventory declined by 25 per cent. Prices have remained relatively stable as a result. Yet on the apartment side, the picture has actually worsened, and that’s to be expected, says Lurie. “With apartments, the challenge is increasing supply in the new home sector weighing on the market,” said Lurie. “There is a large amount of new apartments under construction, and it is difficult for supply to quickly adjust to the current demand environment as builders rarely halt construction midway through a project.” Still, apartment sales increased, as did the attached segment in the first
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Calgary’s housing market showing signs of stability, but the road to a full recovery will take time.
signs of serious recovery. First quarter data for 2017 from the CREB®, released earlier this month, reveals the market could be entering a period of stability in which supply and demand are essentially balancing out in the detached sector of the market. “When we talk about recovery, we have to differentiate the marketplace conditions because there are two segments facing different prospects,” said Ann-Marie Lurie, chief economist with CREB®. In effect the current and near-term storyline for the real estate market involves two separate tales within the same city. There’s the detached market that seems to be improving, and then there’s the apartment segment, which continues to struggle, she says. “Sales in the detached sector have improved from low levels over the past two years, but at the same time
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