CALGARY -- Low interest rates and more money in the pockets of Calgarians has led to a massive rebound of the housing market, real estate experts say.
The Calgary Real Estate Board (CREB) has released the latest results on sales from last month, saying it "is not a surprise" that the number of transactions far exceeded those during March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic took hold.
However, few analysts would have predicted just how hot the Calgary market would have been.
CREB says 2,903 homes were sold in March 2021, nearly 150 per cent more sales that the year before.
Officials say the sales figure hasn't been seen since 2007, and Ann-Marie Lurie, CREB's chief economist, says the reason it was so high was because there were more homes to buy last month.
"This month, there was a jump in new listings, contributing to the strong monthly sales," she said in a release.
Sales weren't the only thing trending upwards in the month, as the benchmark price of a home is six per cent higher ($441,900) than it was last year.
Lurie says those prices will only help the sector recover faster.
"Improving prices will only likely support further gains in new listings, as sellers try to capitalize on the recent shift toward rising prices," she said.
Calgary wasn't the only community that experienced high sales last month. CREB says Airdrie, Cochrane and Okotoks all had strong sales activity as well.
However, home inventories remain exceptionally low in all three communities, with the number of listings in Cochrane in particular similar to the levels seen in 2006.
