Calgary’s Housing Market ‘Freezing’ In Comparison To Toronto and Vancouver’s

The Calgary Real Estate Board (CREB) has released data disclosing the total number of home sales made in the city during the month of July. The results reveal that the state of the Calgary’s housing market could not be of any more contrast to what is being experienced in Toronto and Vancouver.

Whilst Toronto and Vancouver have seen a steady rise in sales in recent times, Calgary’s home sales continue to drop for what is now its 20^th consecutive month. According to CREB; 1,741 homes were sold in the city during July. This signals a 12.6% decline from the numbers sold in the same month a year before.

Apartment sales saw the biggest annual drop out of all other housing options. Sales were recorded to have declined by 21.6% since the past year. Attached housing sales dropped 15.2% and detached housing sales sunk by 9.2%. A total of 551 houses were left unsold when the month ended, 10.7% more from a year earlier.

CREB’s chief economist, Ann-Marie Lurie, provided insight as to why sales in Calgary’s housing market had been declining as of late:

“Continued pullback of sales activity is a sign of economic conditions,” she said. “The number of unemployed workers keeps rising and when you combine job losses with declining net migration, the result is going to be weaker housing demand.”