News
January 27, 2012
New home market heating up
2011 was a bit of a mixed bag for both home builders and consumers. Mortgage rates have remained reasonable, the local economy’s stable, the price of homes has remained ‘corrected’. Despite all that, though, it wasn’t until the second half of the year — as many experts predicted — that things started to turn around for the better.
From January to November, 2011, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) reports there were 4,619 single family starts in Calgary and area, down slightly from the year before. However, August, September, October and November all recorded increases over last year in number of single family home construction starts. CMHC says this upward trend is expected to continue into 2012 with the average price of a new home also predicted to rise approximately $7,000 (1.3 per cent) from 2011’s predicted average new home cost of around $541,000.
On the other side of the coin, MLS re-sale home activity confirms the trend. Sales of single family homes were up 16 per cent in November 2011 compared to 2010. For January to November 2011, the Calgary Real Estate Board reports sales are up 8 per cent with 17,538 homes sold. Average home price for same January to November time period was just over $467,000. It’s of note that of the 34,534 sales reported by the Canadian Real Estate Association, fully half were in Calgary.
