Calgary home sales ease as detached and semi-detached markets see pullback: board

CALGARY -

The Calgary Real Estate Board (CREB) says sales eased in June as the market experienced a pullback in the detached and semi-detached housing categories.

The board says last month's sales amounted to 2,842, down two per cent from the record high of 2,914 in June 2021.

Sales in the detached market declined for the third month in a row and were largely impacted by homes priced under $600,000.

Sebastian Voermann is moving to Calgary from Toronto after accepting a job that starts in September. 

After recently graduating from university, he’s looking to dip his feet into the real estate market instead of renting. 

"When I was applying for jobs and doing my research, it really seemed like Calgary was the last major city in Canada with even somewhat affordable real estate," said Voermann. 

He says young Canadians like him in Ontario and BC are being priced out of the market and not being allowed to realize the dream of buying a home.

"It's definitely something that – in our cities – it's gone out of the picture owning a home,” said Voermann. 

"But if you're willing to move and maybe have a bit of an adventure living in a new city, I say why not? Go for it."

Sebastian Voermann is moving to Calgary from Toronto after accepting a job that starts in September. Michael Montgomery, a realtor with Renzo Real Estate, who is helping Voermann find a home, says there are more and more people coming from across the country to bite into the housing market of Calgary.

"Out-of-province buyers coming to Calgary at the pace and with the enthusiasm that they are, we haven't seen that before previously in our market," said Montgomery. 

"Where other markets are seeing these declines in prices, typically driven mostly by interest rates, in Calgary, we started to see rising levels of supply without necessarily the drop in prices." 

Montgomery says Calgary’s supply is trending ever-so-slowly upwards, but the real estate board says there is only about two months left of supply on the market. 

"We're still definitely in a seller's market," he said. 

"However, it's going to feel like a different seller's market than it did two or three months ago, which was an extreme seller's market – such an extreme that was causing prices to rise at a dramatic rate."

The average home price reached $517,059 last month, up roughly five per cent from $494,163 in June 2021.

The number of new listings reached 4,061, an almost two per cent drop from 4,134 in June 2021.

"As expected, higher interest rates are starting to have an affect on home sales. This is helping shift the market toward more balanced conditions and taking some of the pressure off prices," CREB's chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie said in a statement. 

"While we are starting to see some transition, it is important to note that in Calgary year-to-date sales are still at record levels and prices are still far above expectations for the year."

- With files from The Canadian Press