Recent data for August showed that the resale market in Calgary has continued to slide. According to a recent report from calgaryherald.com, the decline is due to the extended period of depressed oil prices leading to economic and employment uncertainty in the area.
Calgary's MLS sales were pegged at a total of 1,643 for August, a decline of 27 percent for the same period in 2014. According to the same report from the Calgary Real Estate Board, the count for new listings was at 2,733, or a decline of 12.7 percent from the previous year. Active listings, on the other hand increased to 5,146 or about 12.1 percent.
The numbers were confirmed by Real Estate Investment Network senior analyst Don Campbell, who said, "Now the Calgary real estate market begins to get interesting. Thirteen months into the oil downturn combined with additional layoffs and political uncertainty will now push sellers to begin to adjust their prices downward if they wish to move their property."
He added, "This shift will begin to put downward pressure on the average selling piece in Calgary and outlying cities through to February at a minimum unless oil prices (rise) an unexpected amount to $60-plus and stabilize there. The lower quarter of the market, price wise, will continue to be the strongest as mortgage payments are still lower than rents. However, if layoffs continue at the current pace, we will witness more people leaving the city and thus taking the pressure off of the rental market, which could lead to lower average rents during this same period."
In another report, this time from the Calgary Real Estate Board showed the specific benchmarks. A report from theglobeandmail.com indicated that the benchmark price for a home fell by 0.09% to C$456,300. The average resale price declined by 2 percent to C$466,570, the CREB report continued.