Aug 30, 2011, Calgary house prices expected to increase

Short-term year-over-year house price growth in the Calgary region is expected to be in the five to seven per cent range, says the Conference Board of Canada.

It is a forecast it has consistently predicted for the Calgary census metropolitan area for some time.

In a report released Tuesday, the board said the average house price in the Calgary CMA in July was $397,884, down from $399,329 in June.

The seasonally-adjusted annual rate of sales in the resale market is 23,364 in July for the Calgary region, up from 23,112 in June.

New listings have also increased to 44,148 from June’s 43,680 on a seasonally-adjusted annualized rate.

And the sales-to-new listing ratio dropped to 0.499 in July from 0.513 in June.

According to the website of Calgary realtor Mike Fotiou, of First Place Realty, there have been 1,029 single-family MLS sales in the city so far this month between Aug. 1-29. The average sale price has been $451,170. For the entire month of August 2010, there were 865 sales for an average of $445,814.

In the condominium market, month-to-date has seen 426 transactions for an average sale price of $282,009 compared with 362 sales and an average of $286,373 in August of last year.

The conference board’s report listed the following cities which can expect short-term year-over-year price growth of more than seven per cent: Saskatoon, Gatineau, Montreal, Quebec City, Sherbrooke, Trois-Rivieres, and Saguenay.

Joining Calgary in the five to seven per cent range are: Victoria, Vancouver, Fraser Valley, Edmonton, Regina, Winnipeg, Halifax and Newfoundland.

The three to five per cent range includes: Thunder Bay, Sudbury, Hamilton, St. Catherines, Kitchener, Kingston, Ottawa and Saint John.

Toronto, Oshawa, London and Windsor were in the zero to three per cent range.

None of the 28 areas surveyed showed a decline in prices.

By Mario Toneguzzi