Jan 21, 2011, Resale house prices in Calgary expected to climb 5-7

Short-term year-over-year price growth expectations for Calgary’s resale housing market is in the five to seven per cent range, according to the Conference Board of Canada.

The board’s Metro Resale Index, released Friday, said Calgary joins Victoria, Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, Regina, Winnipeg, Halifax and Newfoundland in that category.

However, the price growth expectations are below the top category of seven per cent and more, which includes Edmonton, Saskatoon, Gatineau, Montreal, Quebec, Sherbrooke, Trois-Rivieres and Saguenay.

The conference board said Calgary’s resale housing average price in December for all residential properties was $394,949, down from $401,590 in November and from $403,148 in December 2009.

Seasonally-adjusted annual sales in the city in December were 21,996, which were up from November’s 20,100 but down from 24,108 in December 2009.

Throughout Canada, the board said sales were higher in November in 13 of 28 markets surveyed but remained below year-earlier levels in 26 and “often by a wide margin.”

According to the website of Calgary realtor Mike Fotiou, of First Place Realty, so far in January up to and including Thursday, there have been 418 single-family home sales in the city for an average MLS sale price of $434,027. In December for the entire month, there were 734 transactions at an average price of $441,341.

The website shows month-to-date condo sales of 145 for an average price of $269,824. In December, there were 320 transactions for the month for an average price of $282,768.

Earlier this week, Sano Stante, the new president of the Calgary Real Estate Board, forecast single-family home sales to increase by 19.9 per cent this year from 2010 and for the average MLS sale price to jump by 4.1 per cent to $480,000. He also forecast condo sales to see a 15.8 per cent annual increase with the average price rising by 1.8 per cent to $295,000 for the year.

By Mario Toneguzzi, Calgary Herald