According to the latest news release on June 1, 2009 from the Calgary Real Estate Board

http://www.creb.com/public/documents/statistics/2009/package/res-stats-2009-may.pdf

the number of single family homes and condos sold in May in Calgary Metro are both up from a year ago.

Year over year comparing 2009 to 2008, single family home sales were up by 16% and condo sales were up by 13%.

As I stated in a previous blog in my opinion a more significant statistic is the ratio of the number of sales compared to the existing inventory. In other words what portion of the available inventory is selling? The following graph illustrates the percentage of properties sold compared to the available inventory or the approximate absorbtion rate for single-family homes in Calgary Metro.

Month/Year	Single Family Sales	March Month End Inventory Plus Inventory Added During the Month	Percentage of Available Inventory Sold
May 2007	1,995	3,716 + 3,652 = 7,368	27.08%
May 2008	1,368	7,099 + 3,432 = 10,531	12.99%
May 2009	1,584	3,861 + 2,235 = 6,096	25.98%

 

For those of you who are currently in the market for a single family home you will have noticed that there is far less choice than a few short months ago! In fact the absorbtion rate for the month of March 2009 was only 16.99%.

When almost 26% of the available homes sell as in the month of May 2009 it is usually a reflection of a very healthy market. Properties still need to be priced at market value in order to sell but now face a lot less competition. Those who have been waiting for the “bottom” who have not yet bought have probably missed it – at least within this most recent cycle.

The condo market is still lagging behind the single family market but has also improved as can be seen from the following graph.

Month/Year	Condominium Sales	March Month End Inventory Plus Inventory Added During the Month	Percentage of Available Inventory Sold
May 2007	887	1,173 +1,332 = 2,505	35.41%
May 2008	577	3,308 + 1,538 + 4,846	13.01%
May 2009	653	1,952 + 998 = 2,950	22.14%

 

I’ve always said that Real Estate is not rocket science, just common sense and the basic economics of supply and demand. Anyone involved in the Calgary Real Estate Market should be aware that the median price has increased from sitting at around $340,000 from December through to April up to $350,000 in May. The average price has increased to $394,397 in May after sitting between $373,000 and $379,000 for the past five months.

I will leave it to the economists to make long term predictions, but there has been a definite stabilization short term.

Hope this helps!

Susanita de Diego