Calgary Real Estate Market Overview

THE END OF 2005 SHOWS A RECORD BREAKING YEAR FOR MLS® SALES

Calgary, January 6, 2006 – Year-to-date sales broke records in almost all MLS® categories, according to statistics released by the Calgary Real Estate Board.

December combined residential sales totaled 1,877, making it the highest December on record, and showing a 22.84 per cent increase over December 2004’s sales of 1,528, and a 28.28 per cent seasonal decrease from last month’s sales of 2,617. Year to date combined sales came in at 31,495, a record breaking year-end sales number, and a 19.08 percent increase over the same time period in 2004, when the sales number was 26,448. The breakdown of the December 2005 combined sales was, 1,344 single-family residences, 530 condominium, and 3 mobile homes. November 2004 sales in the same categories were, 1,095; 429; and 4, respectively.

The average combined residential sale price for December 2005 was $273,716 a 17.55 per cent increase over December 2004, when the average price was $232,841, and a 3.52 percent increase over November 2005’s average price of $264,402. Broken out, the following is a comparison of single-family, condominium, and mobile home average sale prices for the month of December 2005 over 2004: single-family $306,271 / $257,824; condominium $192,412 / $171,135; mobile home $53,000 / $11,725.

The following sales information for single-family and condominium combined (excluding mobile home sales) shows increases in the various price categories to indicate where the most sales activity is taking place; year-to-date 2005 over 2004:

“The strong economy and continued low interest rates have certainly contributed to our record-breaking year. This is also reflected in the increased number of sales in the higher price ranges (as shown above), in comparison to 2004, keeping in mind that prices have increased as well. If we look at the combined residential year-to-date median (middle) price of $222,000, we can see that there are still many affordable properties for sale in Calgary,” explained CREB® President, Marilyn R. Jones.

December Condominium sales reached a record breaking 530 sales. This is a 23.54 per cent increase over December 2004, when condominium sales were 429 and a 30.90 per cent decrease from last month, when the sales were 767. The average price of a condominium in December 2005 was $192,412, an increase of 12.43 per cent from the same period last year, when the average condominium sale price was $171,135 and a very slight decrease of 0.44 per cent from last month’s average price of $193,268.

December 2005 residential combined listings totaled 1,563, a decrease of 7.02 per cent from December 2004’s listings of 1,681 and down 36.15 per cent from last month’s 2,448 listings. Year-to-date combined residential listings for December 2005 were 39,703, down just 5.18 per cent from December 2004, when listings were 41,871.

Average price information can be useful in establishing trends over time, but does not indicate actual prices in centres comprised of widely divergent neighbourhoods or account for price differentials between geographical areas. The median price is determined by selecting the middle number of total sale prices – the combined residential median for December 2005 was $238,000; up 15.53 per cent from December 2004, when the median price was $206,000 and up 3.25 per cent from last month’s median of $230,500.