Blog Archives

With little change in the city’s economic climate and a continued shaky level of consumer confidence, the real estate market continues to see weak sales activity and elevated levels of inventory for the month end February 2019. Benchmark prices, inclusive of all inventory types, were five per cent below last year, 10 per cent below highs recorded in 2014, and slightly below the last month’s figures now totaling $414,400. Inventory levels currently total 5,885 units for sale which remains over supplied, compared to only 976 sales total sales for the month. That means your home had a 16 per cent chance of selling last month. With this in mind, sellers need to be sure their home stands out in both presentation and in price. The good news is that new listings added to the market for the month was down eight per cent compared to last year.   City wide benchmark prices for detached homes was $475,600. The apartment sector is starting to see improvements in the amount of inventory available, now nine per cent below levels recorded at this time last year. Benchmark pricing for apartment condos was $252,300.   If you are in a position to buy, you […]

“Has the market hit the bottom yet, or should I wait to buy a home?” This is a question that I field from potential home buyers on a regular basis. I understand the question completely. Nobody wants to overpay for anything. Everybody wants to maximize their spending dollars. And everybody wants to gain equity in their purchase. It’s logical. So why is it that we think we can predict the future, or in this case, the bottom?   I encourage people, in such conversations, to examine why they want to purchase a home. Do you want to flip a house? This is a risky strategy in any market. It’s a short term play, and because nobody can truly predict the future, short or long term, you don’t know what the market will bear once you are ready to put that house on the market until it is time to do so. Don’t get me wrong, this can have its rewards, but there is risk.   Do you want to stay in a house for a long term, at least five to ten years, putting a roof over your family’s head? Excellent! Then home ownership is for you. And there is […]

Purchasing a home is a big decision and it is one of the largest purchases that people will ever make in their lives. With this in mind, one wants to be sure that they are getting the best bang for their buck. Often, people talk about their homes as an investment, but is one’s primary place of residence truly an investment?   First, we need to decide if a home is a need or a want. I would dare to argue that it is a need. Whether one is renting or own their home, they need a roof over their head. This might beg the question: why would somebody own a home if they can rent? It would come down to dollars and cents. Is renting giving that person a potential asset? Is the cost of owning equal to or less than renting, or at least not overly inflated in comparison to renting?   Many of us will certainly look for appreciation in our homes as we age and consider downsizing. Would this be considered as an investment strategy? Some people will think so and some people will not. Surely we will want to have other investments outside of our […]

The end of the year for the Calgary Real Estate market followed the theme from the rest of the year as Calgary was dogged by higher than average unemployment, strict mortgage lending criteria, increasing interest rates and an oil challenged economy. All of this contributed to an elevated supply in the resale market and price declines. Sales in December totalled 794 units, which is a 21 per cent decline from December 2017 and 20 per cent below long-term averages. Over 4900 units were for sale in December which is 30 per cent above normal levels for the month. The average months supply of homes for sale in 2018 was 5.2 months which also added to a decrease in the in the average benchmark price with a 1.5 per cent decline. The take home message, there is opportunity for buyers with lots of choice and a city wide sale. If you are in the position to make a purchase, now is the time. For sellers, you need an aggressive pricing strategy that is responsive to market conditions, not reactive, and you need a real estate professional that knows negotiation and has a plan and an understanding of the psychology of real […]

A conversation that often goes un-discussed between real estate professionals and their clients is the negotiation. Everybody wants to know how the Realtor will market their home for sale in order to attract a sale and what the commissions will be to sell their home, but the topic of negotiation will most often go overlooked. It’s an unfortunate fact because negotiating is likely the most important part of what a real estate professional will do for you in a real estate transaction. It used to be that a buyer’s Realtor would pull up to the seller’s home, meet with the seller and their real estate representative and present the offer. For skilled real estate professionals, presenting the offer was an art. Regardless of what was in the offer, it was an opportunity to set the stage for the negotiation to follow. Here’s why. In Never Split the Difference, Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It by Chris Voss, he cites two famous studies on what makes a person like or dislike somebody. Professor Albert Mehrabian from UCLA created something called the 7 – 38 – 55 rule. 7 percent of the communication is based on the words that are […]

This report is becoming a broken record of sorts. Market conditions in Calgary continue to be challenged due to higher than normal unemployment rates, higher lending rates, and continued challenges in the oil patch which so greatly affects many facets within our city. According to the latest stats from the Calgary Real Estate Board, there were just 1,172 sales in November which totals just 15,348 units sold for the entire year to date. This is a 14 per cent decline from last year and 20 per cent below long term averages.   New listings eased for November compared to last year, which assisted with further inventory gains in this buyer’s market. There were 6,501 units for sale in November, but this is 32 per cent above typical November levels and well above the 5,683 units available for sale at this time last year. This continues to drive price declines within the market.   On the flip side, the rental market is improving. There was a 6.3 per cent vacancy rate in October of 2017 for the city of Calgary, but as of October 18, there is a vacancy rate of 3.9 per cent. The average rent in Calgary is $1,272/month […]

You want to list your home for sale. The market is challenging. Interest rates are rising, there is higher than normal unemployment in the city and the lending rules are very strict, reducing your pool of potential buyers. Let’s not forget all of the competition with the many other listings on the market and the reduced selling prices. The market is soft and it is a buyer’s market. You still need to sell, but could you benefit more financially by not hiring a real estate professional and not parting with commissions which could further reduce your profit? It’s a tempting proposition.   Let’s consider why you would want to hire a real estate professional to sell your home. I don’t know about you, but if I want to build an addition to my home, I will hire a professional, somebody familiar with building additions. Could I do it for less money? Sure, but there’s a reason for that and it will be reflected in the final product. It’s the same reason why I don’t do my own photography for my listings. I’m not a photographer and I know where my skill set lies. Your home is likely your largest asset. […]

City wide selling prices of homes continue to ease with a continuation of elevated inventory levels. For the fifth consecutive month citywide benchmark prices trended downward and now total $426,300. This is a year over year decline of 2.9 per cent. What’s to blame for this downward trend? Take your pick! Elevated unemployment levels, poor job growth within the city, higher interest rates, higher mortgage rates, and stricter mortgage rules are all making a contribution. Many sellers are making price adjustments in an effort to exit this current chain of inventory supply.   October saw inventory levels of 7,345 with total sales of 1,322. This has affected citywide months supply which now sits at above 5.6 months. October inventory levels are at a near record high for the month. In fact, the detached sector has not seen such a slowdown in sales activity since the 1990’s.   What is the take home message? Sellers need to price their homes aggressively if they want to stand out among the competing listings in the neighbourhood. Understand that it can now take double the time to sell a home as it normally would have in a different time and market. I am now […]

Calgary continues to be a buyer’s market with no end in sight for the foreseeable future. Unemployment levels were up again in September to over eight per cent. This is coupled with the challenges for buyers with the new lending rules and an oversupply of homes on the market.   September sales activity totaled 1,272 units which is a 13 per cent decline from a year ago and well below long term averages. All product types posted declines, but was especially significant in the detached sector. City wide inventory levels totaled 7,941 units which means Calgary now has 6.25 months worth of supply. This has pushed city wide benchmark pricing to $428,700 for the month of September. This is three per cent below last year’s levels and one per cent below last month.   The market news from this past year has played like a broken record, but there is an upside. While the rental market is improving, this might be the right time for investors to take advantage of purchasing more inventory. It is also a great time for buyers as a whole as they now have plenty of inventory to choose from and softened sale prices.   If […]