Source: https://mailchi.mp/be920a240802/the-owl-albertas-resale-housing-market?e=6f1f3fb3a5
There is good news and bad news when it comes to Alberta’s resale housing market.
The good news is that prices have not collapsed and the backlog of houses on the market has started to ease.
According to statistics provided by the Alberta Real Estate Association, the average resale price homes in Alberta was 0.5 per cent higher in August ($385,848) than it was a year earlier ($383,786). The average price for the first eight months of the year, however, was down 2.4 per cent compared to the same period last year, falling from $390,408 to $380,933.
The number of houses for sale was down 22.0 per cent in August compared to the previous August and by 4.6 per cent over the first eight months of the year compared to the same period in 2018.
The bad news is that demand remains relatively weak and, although prices have not collapsed, they are not trending upward either.
The total value of sales was down $869 million (-5.8 per cent) over the first eight months of the year. The total number of sales was off by 3.4 per cent, falling from 38,643 sales from January to August 2018 to 37,324 over the same period this year.
The year-to-date average price has fallen from $401,643 in 2017 to 380,933 in 2019 (-5.2 per cent).
The actual price sellers receive for their home depends on a wide range of factors from size and location to condition and local economic conditions but, overall, Alberta remains a “buyer’s market” for now.
About Don Cholak
