Long-running trends influenced the direction these markets took in February
Data from local real estate associations indicates that the Prairie markets benefited from momentum built over the past few months, posting robust February performances.
Nationally, the aggregate benchmark home price had a 3.3% monthly increase in February, reaching $697,000.
Home sales intensified by 39.2% last month to reach an annualized pace of 783,636 units. This significantly outstripped earlier predictions by the Canadian Real Estate Association of 700,000 sales in 2021.
Alberta
The province saw a total of 5,652 sales last month, representing a 55.9% year over year increase and bringing the market its strongest February in 14 years.
The Alberta Real Estate Association is forecasting sustained robustness in this metric, supported by record-low lending rates.
“While several challenges continue to weigh on our economy, projections are improving relative to just a few months ago with better-than-expected energy prices and the continued rollout of the vaccine across the province,” the AREA said. “This is likely also contributing to a boost in confidence among consumers.”
However, supply continues to lag far behind sales gains, with just a 3.9% annual increase in new listings (8,784 units). Inventory also fell by 25.3% during the same timeframe, down to 19,555 homes for sale across Alberta.
“Tighter market conditions are occurring across most regions of the province,” the AREA added. “This is especially true for the lower price ranges of the detached market. With less choice in the lower price ranges, we are also seeing more sales occurring in the upper price ranges causing some distributional shifts in the composition of sales. The combined impact of less supply relative to demand and a greater share of sales occurring in higher price ranges is contributing to the gains in prices.”
The average sales price across all residential asset classes grew by 11% annually to $417,203.
Saskatchewan
Sales activity surged 74% from February 2020, reaching a total of 1,157 transactions. However, new listings remained essentially flat at 1,773 units.
The median home sales price ticked up by nearly 3% year over year to $272,000. This average increased in 13 of the 19 markets that the Saskatchewan Realtors Association is tracking.
“We’re seeing inventories dry up as people keep buying. At the same time, the number of new listings continues to fall in several markets, suggesting that supply is shrinking,” said Chris Gbekorbu, the SRA’s economic analyst. “This suggests that prices will continue to rise as fewer homes are available and buyers are forced to increase their bids to secure what’s available.”
Gbekorbu added that this trend could encourage would-be sellers, “who, having seen homes jump in value last year, don’t want to miss out on rising prices this year.”
Manitoba
Escalating market competition has pushed up the province’s sales 48% year over year to reach 1,294 transactions. This marked the first time that Manitoba’s sales exceeded 1,000 during the month of February.
A total of 1,738 homes were newly listed last month, a mere 0.6% decline compared to February 2020. Meanwhile, the average home sales price grew by 14.5% to reach $318,074.
“Over the past 10 months, the surge in demand for homes in Manitoba has left fewer properties available for purchase,” said Stewart Elston, the Manitoba Real Estate Association’s 2021 president. “To adapt to current market conditions, buyers need to be prepared to act quickly and consider being more flexible in the choice of property they are looking for. This may include considering different neighbourhoods or finding value in a home that can be renovated.”
