Fortunately, current fiscal and employment trends point to a much better 2020 for residential real estate
With the economy still in the process of recovery, Calgary’s home prices will continue a trend of steady decline up to the end of 2019, according to the latest Royal LePage House Price Survey.
On a year-over-year basis, Calgary’s home price dropped by 5% during the second quarter to reach $460,089. By the end of this year, the aggregate price is predicted to decline by 3.6% annually.
In terms of asset classes, two-storey homes saw their aggregate price fall by 5.3% to $501,623, while bungalows dropped by 6.0% to $484,274. Condos had a more forgiving shrinkage, with just a 0.9% year-over-year dip to $284,316.
“We had a very slow start to the spring market but it has strengthened since April as consumer confidence improved, especially after the provincial election,” Royal LePage Benchmark broker and owner Corinne Lyall said.
“Some sellers reconsidered listing their homes as prices pushed downward, which, in turn, has made inventory tighter. The positive news is that people are getting off the fence to buy, taking advantage of current low interest rates.”
A larger consumer base, twice blessed with robust growth prospects and purchasing power, will help the market recoup some much needed strength by next year.
“Builders are holding back while the region continues to normalize from the OSFI stress test and our weakened Alberta economy recovers,” Lyall explained. “We’re also seeing full-time jobs increase in some industries, and there is a favourable outlook for our GDP growth in 2020.”
Among the most notable of these resurgences can be found in the region’s oil and gas sectors, which finally managed to halt the further decimation of their workforces.
“They’ve just stopped the four or five hundred people being laid off like we saw a year or two years ago, where large companies like Cenovus and Suncor and basically all the major oil companies were laying off in droves — we don’t see that happening right now,” CBRE Alberta regional managing director Greg Kwong told CBC News earlier this year.
