Calgary Realtor® Blog - News and Notes From The Market

The residential real estate market in the local area continues to be the most active and lucrative in the country, according to the latest statistics released. Annual sales continue to rise, as does the price of the average Calgary home. There were over 3000 real estate transactions during the month of April, a substantial increase from this time last year (over 10%). When compared to the entire country as a whole, Calgary is bucking the trend as overall sales in Canada actually went down last month (about 3%).

A lot of it boils down to the same factors that are being experienced throughout Alberta - employment and immigration. No matter what way you break it down, these are the primary contributers to the growth of the market. There aren't many places

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Young homebuyers in Alberta are finding the process a bit tougher than they imagined. TD Canada Trust just released a new study this past Tuesday. It shows that potential homebuyers in this group were more likely to note that saving for that down payment is challenging and that property prices are uncomfortably high.

The study looked at several age groups, including the Millennials, otherwise known as Generation Y. They found that housing prices, saving for that down payment and lower salaries were more of an issue for that generation than the Boomers.

But TD Canada Trust’s Sales Manager and Mobile Mortgage Specialist Cheryl Tackalberry noted that home ownership is possible. The initial impression is that it is a daunting proposition but if young

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It seems that in some markets across Canada, bidding wars are still going strong in investment real estate. During the real estate boom sellers were using an under pricing gambit that is still working, despite the slow down in that market.

Toronto is seeing the burnt of this competitive pricing strategy, all to stir up competition, with 25 percent of their properties being underpriced. Vancouver came in second at 17 percent while Calgary took third place with its 12 percent. Nationwide, BMO’s Home Buying Report noted that some 15 percent of property owners would lowball prices just to generate a bidding war.

BMO does concede that those estimates are lower than the same time period in 2012. During that boom year sellers were employing that strategy in…

March was a good month for Calgary’s real estate market, particularly in the resale end of things. The city took the top spot in Canada as far as the best price growth when comparing one month to the next, according to a just released survey by the Teranet National Bank. Its composite House Price Index noted that prices in Calgary went up by 1.3 percent after seeing them decline for the prior three months. That decline added up to a 2.2 percent deficit. Comparing this March to March of 2012, prices in Calgary increased by 5.7 percent.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s Calgary senior market analyst, Richard Cho, noted that availability in the resale market has dropped. More buyers along with fewer properties do help bring real estate prices up.…

Thinking about buying a home? Research is the key to assuring that you find the home of your dreams. In addition to considering location, cost and mortgage issues you might want to look at the following before making your decision.

If you are looking for a home in an area that you are familiar with you already have some idea of neighbourhood quirks such as busy traffic times and noise levels. But it’s always nice to view a potential home at different times of the day. The real estate showing may have been held during the quiet of the morning when kids are in school and most of the neighbours have gone to work. Wander back to the neighbourhood in the late afternoon or early evening to see what the traffic and noise levels are like.

Home inspections are a…

Rather than Canada’s mining sector, which typically produces a number of public offerings on the TSX or the TSX Venture exchanges, it is the REITs that are showing to be the super stars of 2013’s third quarter. That mining sector had no public offerings at all.

The real estate sector, on the other hand, brought three IPOs to the table, making its investors some $422 million according to a survey by PwC. Experts believe that this trend will continue. The real estate world now extends beyond the typical home purchases and that fact is showing up in the market numbers.

Investors are becoming more interested in REITs because of the positive yield possibilities. People are simply more interested in real estate at the moment than they are in mining, and…

You’ve taken the plunge and invested in some rental real estate. You have good tenants that don’t drive you nuts and provide a decent cash flow. So how do you hang on to these sometimes hard to find people, the ones that are making your job a whole lot easier?  Help reduce your tenant turnover with these suggestions.

Make Rent Paying Easier

In this busy world it’s easy to forget to put that rent check in the mail or drop by the rental office. Perhaps your tenant has to travel for his employment and isn’t always around at the first of the month. Making rent paying easier can ease the stress levels for you and your tenant. One way is to take post-dated cheques, then just deposit them when due. Another popular option is to use direct debit or…

Calgary’s real estate year is getting off to a prolific start. Unlike years past, the first quarter of 2013 has seen brisk sales, with some properties selling within days of being put on the market.

The Calgary Real Estate Board attributes this activity to a reduced inventory and increased demand. This year so far, the number of homes on the MLS system is down by 20 percent compared to what they were in 2012.

That agency’s Ann Marie Laurie noted that properties are not staying listed like they used to. Days on market averages are starting to go down, which causes average prices to go up. So far a single family home’s average price is nine percent higher than it was during the first quarter of 2012.

The price increase is also being helped by the…

A big part of successful real estate investing is knowing where and how to buy that profitable property. It does take a bit of research and work to find something in what’s called the “out-performing” market.

Calgary is on the top of that market list, with a robust economy and enough real estate and money to give back high ROI. TD Economics’ deputy chief economist and vice-president Derek Burleton noted that all these factors, along with price gains that are showing to be above average, have given this Alberta city a front row pass.

Then there are others like Tony Zucaro from Right At Home Realty, Inc. who thinks that investors in the know won’t necessarily let price alone be the deciding factor. His definition of an out performing market is a…

In Calgary, today’s home buyers are looking for convenience and workability. The more pedestrian friendly the area, the more property values are increasing. The Real Estate Investment Network’s latest research shows that the Walk Score of a neighbourhood influences property value.

Looking at real estate in Calgary, that could not be more true. Properties in the inner city are highly sought after by those wanting to do away with long commutes. The suburbs are just not as attractive as they once were. Starting in 2000 and through 2012, the ten neighbourhoods that saw the largest increase in average home values were in Calgary’s inner core and surrounding areas. Collectively they saw home prices increase by some 205 to 260 percent. The Calgary Real…