Lack of more affordable options weighs on home sales in nearby communities

Most communities around Calgary are made up mostly of single-family homes, a more expensive housing choice than multi-family homes.

Communities surrounding Calgary did not see the same record-breaking activity last month as Calgary proper as these largely single-family detached home communities were held back due to a lack of supply for affordable options.

“These communities are more detached-home-heavy markets than Calgary,” says Ann-Marie Lurie, chief economist with the Calgary Real Estate Board, which recently released May resale market data for the communities surrounding the city.

“And in places like Airdrie, there is just not a lot of available supply.”

In turn, sales fell in the largest outlying community nearly 16 per cent year over year. Still, even with new listings falling more than 18 per cent last month, Airdrie’s benchmark price actually gained about one per cent to reach $502,900 — a reflection of still strong demand.

Cochrane also saw sales fall nearly 10 per cent as new listings dropped about four per cent. Its benchmark did fall, though only 0.2 per cent to $515,600.

Not all markets saw declines in sales, however. Sales in Chestermere rose 30 per cent year over year, although year to date, sales are still down about 30 per cent.

In Strathmore, sales grew two per cent.

Steeper declines were seen in Okotoks with sales falling 24 per cent from May 2022, and High River sales fell nearly 35 per cent.

Canmore also experienced a decline in demand with sales decreasing 19 per cent.

Like most communities, low supply (less than one month) helped push up prices modestly with Canmore’s benchmark rising five per cent to $901,700.

Source by calgaryherald.com