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By Kevin Press, BrighterLife.ca


The Canadian economy will grow by more than 2% this year. That’s thanks mainly to a solid rebound in the U.S.

 

Would it surprise you to hear that Canada’s main stock index, the S&P/TSX Composite, is up year-to-date? It may only be a couple of percentage points, but given all the hand-wringing at the end of January, you’d think our frigid winter sky was falling. Not true (thankfully, because I’ve had it with the shovelling).

But while there are precious few signs that spring is on the way, there is reason for optimism. That’s the key message in a new report on the North American economy by Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets. Canadian gross domestic product (GDP) growth will hit 2.3% this year, according to Guatieri. Unemployment will end 2014 at 6.8%. That’s due largely to projected U.S. growth.

“If not for a stronger U.S. economy, we would be stuck at a sub-2% growth rate for another year,” said Guatieri in an interview with me yesterday. “The pickup in growth for Canada is all due to the expected pickup in the U.S. economy. A small part is due to the weaker Canadian dollar.”

Guatieri made four key points:

  • Solid consumer spending and positive results from the energy sector powered the Canadian economy to a strong second half in 2013. Car dealers had a record year, as I wrote about in August. Home sales came back after a disappointing 2012. We have a bit of momentum to work with. 
  • We’re not done with the economic headwinds. As we heard in yesterday’s budget announcement, the federal government is determined to reestablish fiscal prudence, having spent big dollars to stimulate the economy after the financial crisis. And consumers — weighed down by record levels of household debt — aren’t in a mood to spend either. “There’s too little left in the domestic tank to get us on a higher growth track,” said Guatieri. “The housing boom of the last decade and the consumer borrowing boom, those two areas are tapped out. And governments are cutting back. So there’s nothing on the fiscal side that could kick our growth up. If anything we’ll see a modest fiscal drag this year and next. Business investment likely will not strengthen until exports come back and manufacturing activity picks up.” 
  • The Canadian dollar is weakening. While this is driven by concerns about the domestic economy and the emerging markets we depend on so much for our commodities, a lower loonie is good for Canadian exports to the U.S. Watch for the dollar to hit a low of US87₵ before recovering to better than US90₵ later in the year. 
  • An overnight rate cut is still possible. It’s not likely, though. Given Guatieri’s GDP forecast and moderate inflation expectation, the Bank of Canada’s next move will probably be up. Don’t count on that happening until the third quarter of 2015, though.

I asked Guatieri how worried he is about emerging markets.

 

“We think in most cases further turmoil in emerging markets will be contained,” he said. “We won’t see the global financial spillovers that occurred in 1998 during the Asian financial crisis. Much of the turmoil we’re seeing in emerging markets now is very country-specific. It’s a reflection of unsustainable economic systems and unstable political systems in countries like Argentina, Venezuela and Turkey . . . Now, if some of the bigger countries face more uncertainty or financial instability — we’re talking India, China and Russia to some extent — that would be a bigger problem. But we think for the most part weakness in those countries will be contained. We don’t expect much further weakness in their economies to an extent that would undermine commodity prices and Canada’s economy.”

Read

I'm hosting an Open House at 220 COVE WAY.
Open House on Saturday, March 22, 2014 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
OPEN HOUSE Saturday March 22, between 2-4pm! Absolutely stunning custom built home steps away from the LAKE where the water and playground await! Over 3550 sq ft of LIVING SPACE including a FULLY FINISHED WALKOUT basement. A total of 4 BEDROOMS and 3 1/2 BATHS. BUILT-INS throughout entire home include closet, shoe organizers, desks and bookcases. CUSTOM BAR with WINE CELLAR in basement. Other features include 5" plank hickory hardwood, 6"baseboard, 4" casings,2 FURNACES, porcelain tiled master shower, bronze symphony lighting, plush upgraded carpet, INFLOOR heating in basement and garage, exterior done in Eldorado stone, SPEAKER SYSTEM throughout, AIR CONDITIONING, custom CURVED maple staircase, GRANITE throughout, CUSTOTM maple kitchen with STAILESS appliances, UNDERGROUND SPRINKLERS, exposed aggregate decks, basketball, tennis courts and lake close by. This home needs to be seen to truly appreciate the value. You could not build this home for this price in today's market place. Truly a touch of class.
Please feel free to stop by for a visit!
Read

Pressure on supply of homes for sale

By Mario Toneguzzi, Calgary Herald

 

CALGARY - Although additional resale housing inventory is expected to hit the Calgary market in the spring, a new real estate report says it will be absorbed by strong consumer demand.

The report by Sotheby’s International Realty Canada, released Tuesday, said the outlook for Calgary’s real estate market is positive based on key economic indicators and demand is being “driven by low interest rates, tight rental and resale real estate markets and strong economic fundamentals.”

 

Ross McCredie, president and chief executive of Sotheby’s International Realty Canada, said Calgary’s marketplace demand is due to a number of factors including high incomes and strong net migration to the city.

 

“People feel pretty confident more than any other market in Canada in terms of the future of it,” he said. “The new product that’s out there, the existing product and if you look at all of the data that supports it, it’s not as if you have an over-supply of product . . . Calgary is not that big of a market compared to say Toronto or even Vancouver. You do have a significant demand out there. You’ve got a lot of people looking for high quality real estate. When people make money they typically try to buy real estate. That hasn’t changed.

 

“If you look at the Calgary market, probably more than any market you’ve got more pressure on supply than any market in Canada.”

 

According to the Calgary Real Estate Board, month to date from March 1-17, there have been 1,264 MLS sales in the city, up 13.26 per cent from the same period last year. But new listings of 1,782 are down by 1.44 per cent and active listings of 3,126 are off by 20.17 per cent.

The median price has jumped by 9.0 per cent to $433,000 while the average sale price has risen by 6.25 per cent to $482,307. And the average days on the market to sell a home has dropped to 27 from 35 last year.

 

“Low inventory and high demand from buyers have resulted in bidding wars, multiple offers and an increase in sales above asking prices for single-family homes both in the city and its surrounding areas. Low vacancy rates are also encouraging first-time buyers into the market, driving specific demand for homes in the $300,000 to $700,000 range with the effect trickling up to homes at higher price points,” said Sotheby’s Housing & Economic Outlook report.

 

“In recent years, Calgary has stood out as a pillar of strength among Canada’s major urban centres, bolstered by continued economic growth and record-breaking real estate market performance. This resilience helped the city’s housing market recover from the effects of widespread flooding that took place in June and July 2013, described by the provincial government as the worst in Alberta’s history.”

 

It said Alberta in the year ahead is expected to lead the country in total capital investment growth driven largely by oil and gas extraction and pipelines.

The report said anticipated regulatory approval of any one of the many proposed pipeline projects will also contribute positively to the momentum of the city’s economic performance in 2014.

 

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

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9.6% annual hike for repeat home sales to record level

By Mario Toneguzzi, Calgary Herald

 

CALGARY - Calgary’s housing market continues to shine compared with the rest of the country as local residental real estate prices showed the highest growth rate in Canada in February, according to a report released Wednesday on repeat home sales.

 

Calgary prices rose by 9.6 per cent year-over-year and by 1.1 per cent month-over-month - both the best in the country and to an all-time high for the city, said the Teranet-National Bank National Composite House Price Index.

 

Nationally, of 11 centres surveyed, prices were up 5.0 per cent from last year and by 0.3 per cent from January.

 

The index is estimated by tracking observed or registered home prices over time using data collected from public land registries. All dwellings that have been sold at least twice are considered in the calculation.

 

The trend in price increases in Calgary does not appear to be changing in March. According to the Calgary Real Estate Board, so far this month from March 1-11, the average MLS sale price in the city is up 5.28 per cent from the same time a year ago to $480,345 while the median price has increased by 7.25 per cent to $429,000. CREB stats indicate there have been 796 MLS sales so far this month, up 10.71 per cent from last year but new listings are down 4.05 per cent to 1,114 and active listings are off by 18.80 per cent to 3,049.

 

The Teranet-National Bank report said that for the second month in a row, prices for Canada as a whole rose to an all-time high, though new records were set in only two of the 11 metropolitan markets surveyed - Vancouver (for a fourth straight month) and Calgary (for the first time since September 2007).

 

The gain from a year earlier was well above the cross-country average in two of the 11 markets, Calgary and Vancouver (7.7 per cent). It was slightly above the average in Toronto (6.1 per cent) and Edmonton (5.3 per cent), equal to the average in Hamilton (5.0 per cent) and below it in Winnipeg (3.5 per cent) and Montreal (1.9 per cent).

 

In Halifax (4.7 per cent) and Ottawa-Gatineau (0.6 per cent), prices were down from a year earlier for a second consecutive month. In Victoria (3.4 per cent), home prices have been down from a year earlier for 12 months now. Quebec City posted its first 12 month deflation in 15 years (2.0 per cent). It is the first time since October 2009 that there is price deflation in at least four of the regions covered, said the report.

 

“In February the east-west dichotomy became more pronounced than ever,” it said.

Home prices were up from the month before in all five markets of Western Canada - Calgary, Vancouver and Victoria (0.9 per cent), Edmonton (0.6 per cent) and Winnipeg (0.5 per cent). The rise in Victoria ended a run of four consecutive monthly declines. For Vancouver it was the 10th consecutive monthly increase. In the six markets of central and eastern Canada, the only monthly rise was in Montreal (0.7 per cent), the second advance after six months of flat or declining prices. Prices were down 0.1 per cent in Toronto, making February the fourth month without a gain in the last six. For Ottawa-Gatineau (0.8 per cent) it was the sixth decline in a row, for Quebec City (1.7 per cent) the sixth in seven months. For Halifax (1.7 per cent) it was the third decline in a row, said the report.

 

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

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BMO report says Canadians willing to pay more to get what they want

 By Mario Toneguzzi, Calgary Herald March 5, 201

CALGARY - Prospective Canadian homebuyers are more willing to enter into a bidding war this year for properties they want to purchase, says a new report released Wednesday by BMO.

 

And Calgary’s hot housing market is proving to be a good example of that as nearly 20 per cent of MLS residential sales in the city in February were for above list price.

 

The BMO Home Buying Report said 34 per cent of Canadians are willing to enter a bidding war when it’s time to buy a home, an increase of six points, or 21 per cent, from a year ago.

 

The report, conducted by Pollara, said that in major city centres, the appetite for competitive bids is the highest in Toronto and Vancouver (44 per cent and 41 per cent respectively). In Calgary, it is 38 per cent and in Alberta, it is 30 per cent.

 

“While many suspect bidding wars are triggered by sellers who deliberately price their homes below market, the report shows that just 15 per cent of owners have that motivation, with those on the Prairies and in Toronto the most likely to pursue this strategy - but even then the numbers are modest at 24 per cent and 22 per cent respectively,” said BMO, which says average home prices across Canada continue to rise, gaining momentum in the past year, with the average transaction price up nearly 10 per cent year-over-year in January. The average home sale price in Canada is currently just over $400,000.

“Calgary’s market continues to see the strongest fundamentals; Vancouver has rebounded from a soft patch; while Toronto’s market remains relatively balanced overall, though the condo market is more amply supplied,” said Robert Kavcic, senior economist with BMO Capital Markets, in a statement. “Overall, sales are expected to hold relatively steady in the year ahead, with price growth in the low single-digit range, below the rate of income growth.”

 

Laura Parsons, mortgage expert with BMO Bank of Montreal, said the competition for real estate in Canada, particularly in hotter markets, can be fierce and turn into an emotional frenzy.

“A shortage of inventory is driving a lot of it,” said Parson of the Calgary market. “It’s such an emotional thing. When you see it, you get it. I remember the days when there were lineups of people behind each other. The minute you see that your heart starts to race and you want to not lose.

“Lots of people are prepared. They know what their high is . . . Calgary has the biggest income so we’re willing to spend more if we have to and hopefully we’ve been conservative before we go in and we know we have that room to bid higher.”

 

Parsons said many people don’t understand that they can renovate a home and build it into the purchase price.

 

For some people, she said, there’s a need to move before spring and they’re feeling the pressure.

Data released Monday by the Calgary Real Estate Board indicates all-time records, for any month, were set in February in the average city sale price ($482,530) and the median city price ($424,900) as well as in the single-family sale price ($550,312) and the single-family median price ($480,000).

 

“Calgary has been in a statistical sellers’ market since February 2013,” said Robyn Moser, a realtor with CIR Realty. “As time has passed, the sellers’ market has become increasingly aggressive. This has caused buyers to see lower and lower levels of inventory, placed into competing offers and homes selling in days if not hours. This cause is speculated to be the lack of available new home inventory due to Calgary sewer lines that are needing to be upgraded. This has placed metro Calgary real estate values into statistical unsustainable levels until the sewer line upgrade is complete.”

 

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

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By Kevin Press, BrighterLife.ca


The Canadian economy will grow by more than 2% this year. That’s thanks mainly to a solid rebound in the U.S.

 

Would it surprise you to hear that Canada’s main stock index, the S&P/TSX Composite, is up year-to-date? It may only be a couple of percentage points, but given all the hand-wringing at the end of January, you’d think our frigid winter sky was falling. Not true (thankfully, because I’ve had it with the shovelling).

But while there are precious few signs that spring is on the way, there is reason for optimism. That’s the key message in a new report on the North American economy by Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets. Canadian gross domestic product (GDP) growth will hit 2.3% this year, according to Guatieri. Unemployment will end 2014 at 6.8%. That’s due largely to projected U.S. growth.

“If not for a stronger U.S. economy, we would be stuck at a sub-2% growth rate for another year,” said Guatieri in an interview with me yesterday. “The pickup in growth for Canada is all due to the expected pickup in the U.S. economy. A small part is due to the weaker Canadian dollar.”

Guatieri made four key points:

  • Solid consumer spending and positive results from the energy sector powered the Canadian economy to a strong second half in 2013. Car dealers had a record year, as I wrote about in August. Home sales came back after a disappointing 2012. We have a bit of momentum to work with. 
  • We’re not done with the economic headwinds. As we heard in yesterday’s budget announcement, the federal government is determined to reestablish fiscal prudence, having spent big dollars to stimulate the economy after the financial crisis. And consumers — weighed down by record levels of household debt — aren’t in a mood to spend either. “There’s too little left in the domestic tank to get us on a higher growth track,” said Guatieri. “The housing boom of the last decade and the consumer borrowing boom, those two areas are tapped out. And governments are cutting back. So there’s nothing on the fiscal side that could kick our growth up. If anything we’ll see a modest fiscal drag this year and next. Business investment likely will not strengthen until exports come back and manufacturing activity picks up.” 
  • The Canadian dollar is weakening. While this is driven by concerns about the domestic economy and the emerging markets we depend on so much for our commodities, a lower loonie is good for Canadian exports to the U.S. Watch for the dollar to hit a low of US87₵ before recovering to better than US90₵ later in the year. 
  • An overnight rate cut is still possible. It’s not likely, though. Given Guatieri’s GDP forecast and moderate inflation expectation, the Bank of Canada’s next move will probably be up. Don’t count on that happening until the third quarter of 2015, though.

I asked Guatieri how worried he is about emerging markets.

 

“We think in most cases further turmoil in emerging markets will be contained,” he said. “We won’t see the global financial spillovers that occurred in 1998 during the Asian financial crisis. Much of the turmoil we’re seeing in emerging markets now is very country-specific. It’s a reflection of unsustainable economic systems and unstable political systems in countries like Argentina, Venezuela and Turkey . . . Now, if some of the bigger countries face more uncertainty or financial instability — we’re talking India, China and Russia to some extent — that would be a bigger problem. But we think for the most part weakness in those countries will be contained. We don’t expect much further weakness in their economies to an extent that would undermine commodity prices and Canada’s economy.”

Read

I'm hosting an Open House at 220 COVE WAY.
Open House on Saturday, March 22, 2014 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
OPEN HOUSE Saturday March 22, between 2-4pm! Absolutely stunning custom built home steps away from the LAKE where the water and playground await! Over 3550 sq ft of LIVING SPACE including a FULLY FINISHED WALKOUT basement. A total of 4 BEDROOMS and 3 1/2 BATHS. BUILT-INS throughout entire home include closet, shoe organizers, desks and bookcases. CUSTOM BAR with WINE CELLAR in basement. Other features include 5" plank hickory hardwood, 6"baseboard, 4" casings,2 FURNACES, porcelain tiled master shower, bronze symphony lighting, plush upgraded carpet, INFLOOR heating in basement and garage, exterior done in Eldorado stone, SPEAKER SYSTEM throughout, AIR CONDITIONING, custom CURVED maple staircase, GRANITE throughout, CUSTOTM maple kitchen with STAILESS appliances, UNDERGROUND SPRINKLERS, exposed aggregate decks, basketball, tennis courts and lake close by. This home needs to be seen to truly appreciate the value. You could not build this home for this price in today's market place. Truly a touch of class.
Please feel free to stop by for a visit!
Read

Pressure on supply of homes for sale

By Mario Toneguzzi, Calgary Herald

 

CALGARY - Although additional resale housing inventory is expected to hit the Calgary market in the spring, a new real estate report says it will be absorbed by strong consumer demand.

The report by Sotheby’s International Realty Canada, released Tuesday, said the outlook for Calgary’s real estate market is positive based on key economic indicators and demand is being “driven by low interest rates, tight rental and resale real estate markets and strong economic fundamentals.”

 

Ross McCredie, president and chief executive of Sotheby’s International Realty Canada, said Calgary’s marketplace demand is due to a number of factors including high incomes and strong net migration to the city.

 

“People feel pretty confident more than any other market in Canada in terms of the future of it,” he said. “The new product that’s out there, the existing product and if you look at all of the data that supports it, it’s not as if you have an over-supply of product . . . Calgary is not that big of a market compared to say Toronto or even Vancouver. You do have a significant demand out there. You’ve got a lot of people looking for high quality real estate. When people make money they typically try to buy real estate. That hasn’t changed.

 

“If you look at the Calgary market, probably more than any market you’ve got more pressure on supply than any market in Canada.”

 

According to the Calgary Real Estate Board, month to date from March 1-17, there have been 1,264 MLS sales in the city, up 13.26 per cent from the same period last year. But new listings of 1,782 are down by 1.44 per cent and active listings of 3,126 are off by 20.17 per cent.

The median price has jumped by 9.0 per cent to $433,000 while the average sale price has risen by 6.25 per cent to $482,307. And the average days on the market to sell a home has dropped to 27 from 35 last year.

 

“Low inventory and high demand from buyers have resulted in bidding wars, multiple offers and an increase in sales above asking prices for single-family homes both in the city and its surrounding areas. Low vacancy rates are also encouraging first-time buyers into the market, driving specific demand for homes in the $300,000 to $700,000 range with the effect trickling up to homes at higher price points,” said Sotheby’s Housing & Economic Outlook report.

 

“In recent years, Calgary has stood out as a pillar of strength among Canada’s major urban centres, bolstered by continued economic growth and record-breaking real estate market performance. This resilience helped the city’s housing market recover from the effects of widespread flooding that took place in June and July 2013, described by the provincial government as the worst in Alberta’s history.”

 

It said Alberta in the year ahead is expected to lead the country in total capital investment growth driven largely by oil and gas extraction and pipelines.

The report said anticipated regulatory approval of any one of the many proposed pipeline projects will also contribute positively to the momentum of the city’s economic performance in 2014.

 

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

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9.6% annual hike for repeat home sales to record level

By Mario Toneguzzi, Calgary Herald

 

CALGARY - Calgary’s housing market continues to shine compared with the rest of the country as local residental real estate prices showed the highest growth rate in Canada in February, according to a report released Wednesday on repeat home sales.

 

Calgary prices rose by 9.6 per cent year-over-year and by 1.1 per cent month-over-month - both the best in the country and to an all-time high for the city, said the Teranet-National Bank National Composite House Price Index.

 

Nationally, of 11 centres surveyed, prices were up 5.0 per cent from last year and by 0.3 per cent from January.

 

The index is estimated by tracking observed or registered home prices over time using data collected from public land registries. All dwellings that have been sold at least twice are considered in the calculation.

 

The trend in price increases in Calgary does not appear to be changing in March. According to the Calgary Real Estate Board, so far this month from March 1-11, the average MLS sale price in the city is up 5.28 per cent from the same time a year ago to $480,345 while the median price has increased by 7.25 per cent to $429,000. CREB stats indicate there have been 796 MLS sales so far this month, up 10.71 per cent from last year but new listings are down 4.05 per cent to 1,114 and active listings are off by 18.80 per cent to 3,049.

 

The Teranet-National Bank report said that for the second month in a row, prices for Canada as a whole rose to an all-time high, though new records were set in only two of the 11 metropolitan markets surveyed - Vancouver (for a fourth straight month) and Calgary (for the first time since September 2007).

 

The gain from a year earlier was well above the cross-country average in two of the 11 markets, Calgary and Vancouver (7.7 per cent). It was slightly above the average in Toronto (6.1 per cent) and Edmonton (5.3 per cent), equal to the average in Hamilton (5.0 per cent) and below it in Winnipeg (3.5 per cent) and Montreal (1.9 per cent).

 

In Halifax (4.7 per cent) and Ottawa-Gatineau (0.6 per cent), prices were down from a year earlier for a second consecutive month. In Victoria (3.4 per cent), home prices have been down from a year earlier for 12 months now. Quebec City posted its first 12 month deflation in 15 years (2.0 per cent). It is the first time since October 2009 that there is price deflation in at least four of the regions covered, said the report.

 

“In February the east-west dichotomy became more pronounced than ever,” it said.

Home prices were up from the month before in all five markets of Western Canada - Calgary, Vancouver and Victoria (0.9 per cent), Edmonton (0.6 per cent) and Winnipeg (0.5 per cent). The rise in Victoria ended a run of four consecutive monthly declines. For Vancouver it was the 10th consecutive monthly increase. In the six markets of central and eastern Canada, the only monthly rise was in Montreal (0.7 per cent), the second advance after six months of flat or declining prices. Prices were down 0.1 per cent in Toronto, making February the fourth month without a gain in the last six. For Ottawa-Gatineau (0.8 per cent) it was the sixth decline in a row, for Quebec City (1.7 per cent) the sixth in seven months. For Halifax (1.7 per cent) it was the third decline in a row, said the report.

 

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

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BMO report says Canadians willing to pay more to get what they want

 By Mario Toneguzzi, Calgary Herald March 5, 201

CALGARY - Prospective Canadian homebuyers are more willing to enter into a bidding war this year for properties they want to purchase, says a new report released Wednesday by BMO.

 

And Calgary’s hot housing market is proving to be a good example of that as nearly 20 per cent of MLS residential sales in the city in February were for above list price.

 

The BMO Home Buying Report said 34 per cent of Canadians are willing to enter a bidding war when it’s time to buy a home, an increase of six points, or 21 per cent, from a year ago.

 

The report, conducted by Pollara, said that in major city centres, the appetite for competitive bids is the highest in Toronto and Vancouver (44 per cent and 41 per cent respectively). In Calgary, it is 38 per cent and in Alberta, it is 30 per cent.

 

“While many suspect bidding wars are triggered by sellers who deliberately price their homes below market, the report shows that just 15 per cent of owners have that motivation, with those on the Prairies and in Toronto the most likely to pursue this strategy - but even then the numbers are modest at 24 per cent and 22 per cent respectively,” said BMO, which says average home prices across Canada continue to rise, gaining momentum in the past year, with the average transaction price up nearly 10 per cent year-over-year in January. The average home sale price in Canada is currently just over $400,000.

“Calgary’s market continues to see the strongest fundamentals; Vancouver has rebounded from a soft patch; while Toronto’s market remains relatively balanced overall, though the condo market is more amply supplied,” said Robert Kavcic, senior economist with BMO Capital Markets, in a statement. “Overall, sales are expected to hold relatively steady in the year ahead, with price growth in the low single-digit range, below the rate of income growth.”

 

Laura Parsons, mortgage expert with BMO Bank of Montreal, said the competition for real estate in Canada, particularly in hotter markets, can be fierce and turn into an emotional frenzy.

“A shortage of inventory is driving a lot of it,” said Parson of the Calgary market. “It’s such an emotional thing. When you see it, you get it. I remember the days when there were lineups of people behind each other. The minute you see that your heart starts to race and you want to not lose.

“Lots of people are prepared. They know what their high is . . . Calgary has the biggest income so we’re willing to spend more if we have to and hopefully we’ve been conservative before we go in and we know we have that room to bid higher.”

 

Parsons said many people don’t understand that they can renovate a home and build it into the purchase price.

 

For some people, she said, there’s a need to move before spring and they’re feeling the pressure.

Data released Monday by the Calgary Real Estate Board indicates all-time records, for any month, were set in February in the average city sale price ($482,530) and the median city price ($424,900) as well as in the single-family sale price ($550,312) and the single-family median price ($480,000).

 

“Calgary has been in a statistical sellers’ market since February 2013,” said Robyn Moser, a realtor with CIR Realty. “As time has passed, the sellers’ market has become increasingly aggressive. This has caused buyers to see lower and lower levels of inventory, placed into competing offers and homes selling in days if not hours. This cause is speculated to be the lack of available new home inventory due to Calgary sewer lines that are needing to be upgraded. This has placed metro Calgary real estate values into statistical unsustainable levels until the sewer line upgrade is complete.”

 

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

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