Alberta Real Estate Association reports Lethbridge home sales have seen a significant drop
The Alberta Real Estate Association has published its data from several cities across the province.
And its report on Lethbridge shows home sales fell over the past year.
But Ann-Marie Lurie, chief economist at for the Alberta Real Estate Association, says the data isn't very alarming.
"What we're really seeing is a return to something a little bit more normal. We have to keep in mind over the last couple of years sales have been exceptionally strong and far stronger than what we traditionally see in our market because of the low interest rate environment," Lurie said.
Year-over-year home sales in Lethbridge dropped 37.8 per cent to 107 units sold.
New listings followed a similar trend, dropping 33.6 per cent to 140.
Inventory of available properties jumped 13.9 per cent to 402, but that's still about 30 per cent short of long-term trends.
"I think it's a combination of quite a few different things," said Jennifer Brodoway, Team View Lethbridge Realtor.
"The last couple years have been a little bit crazy and a lot of people got moving and that's slowed down a little bit."
New home builds have also experienced a decline, down 251 housing starts year to date.
"We can see that inventory is up over last year, we can see that sales are down and not surprisingly, we can see that housing sales are also down. They're all correlated and work together," said Bridget Mearns, executive officer of BILD Lethbridge.
Despite the slowdown in home sales, Lethbridge experts are still feeling optimistic about the market.
Cathy Maxwell, CEO of Lethbridge and District Association of Realtors, points to Lethbridge's diversified economy and the flat interest rate after it had been raised several times this year as reasons to be hopeful for the future.
"In talking to realtors out in the field, they're busy. And you know, the other thing we have to consider is that Lethbridge is a very strong and diversified city. And I know that we say that all the time but it's so true," Maxwell said.
Home prices in Lethbridge have seen a slight increase.
The total residential average price increased 1.1 per cent year over year to $351,783.
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