After a flurry of home sales over the summer, Calgary’s real estate market was readying itself for a September slowdown.
But the latest numbers from the Calgary Real Estate Board show that sales are continuing to grow year over year.
CREB reports 2,162 residential homes were sold in September, an increase of 26.7 per cent from this time last year.
Inventory slipped to 5,607 properties, a drop of 10.3 per cent, forcing prices to continue to climb.
The average home price in Calgary rose to $457,900, which is an 8.6 per cent increase compared to September 2020. The average detached home is going for $537,500.
Justin Havre from RE/MAX First said the numbers show that Calgary remains an active market for both buyers and sellers.
“The single-family detached segment continues to remain relatively strong,” said Havre. “And there is lots and lots of opportunities in the apartment segment.”
Havre added that he’s seeing a growing interest from buyers outside of the province, specifically from the Toronto and Vancouver markets.
Buying from afar
Homeowner Agamemnon Spiridoulias and his wife have been eyeing the Calgary market for a while.
The couple from Burlington, Ont., decided they wanted to cash in on the record-breaking housing market by selling their home and buying a property in northwest Calgary.
“We were looking at the bottom line,” said Spiridoulias. “You really do get more bang for your buck here, and the housing market here for us definitely coming from Burlington is super affordable.”
Buying a house from across the country and wanting to avoid travelling during the pandemic, Spiridoulias opted to check out options through video calls, photos and virtual tours.
He added that while professional photos tend to exaggerate the size of rooms, video tours seem to do the opposite, under-representing the square footage.
“We went upstairs to our second level. We were like this is way more than we’d ever even need,” said Spiridoulias. “So that was a pleasant surprise.”
The new Calgarian said he would recommend a similar process for other buyers looking at moving across the country, as long as you set some ground rules with your realtor.
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