Calgary's Housing Market to Stabilize in 2017

The Canadian Press

CALGARY -- January 11, 2017

The Calgary Real Estate Board says the city's housing market is expected to stabilize, with some prices forecast to rise this year.

In its 2017 forecast, the board says benchmark detached house prices are projected to climb by 0.8 per cent in 2017 after falling 4.7 per cent since oil prices began falling in 2014.

Benchmark condo prices are expected to fall another two per cent this year, though that comes after falling 11.3 per cent since the economic downturn began.

For all types of homes, sales volume is expected to climb three per cent from last year to 18,335 properties sold -- though that remains off long-term averages.

Still, board chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie says high unemployment, rising mortgage rates, low net migration, and a slow recovery in the energy sector are expected to continue to weigh on the housing sector.

She emphasized that any recovery will be slow, with some ongoing risk as uncertainty in the economy continues.

Be the First to Know ~ How to find out the latest Listings or Sales.

Everybody wants to be informed first about a new listing on the market when they are looking for a new home or want to sell their current one.

The tool that Real Estate Agents use to do this is called Private Client Services (PCS) Value Proposition.

PCS is a prospecting tool that features automatic emailing of new listing matches. This unique product also allows your Realtor to instantly create private webpages for their clients displaying property listings pertaining to specific search criteria tailored specifically to your needs. The Realtor enters the search criteria and instantly a private webpage for you will be updated with real-time matches to those criteria.

What exactly is PCS?  A nifty property search tool many of you may be aware of and presently subscribe to is called PCS or Private Client Services.  It is a property listing and sale notification system that allows you to see what new properties are listed and for what price, as well as receive a quick note when prices change, and finally the sales price when sold.

So if you are looking for a new home, selling your current home or just watching the market this is a great tool for you to sign up for now.

Whether you are a Buyer or prospective Seller we encourage you to let us know if:

a. You wish to adjust your parameters of search if registered already or if not registered,

b. You wish to subscribe to PCS with certain criteria of search profile.  This would include size of property, location, # of bedrooms.


Please call Jordy or Jim to discuss your special parameters of search if this is unclear.

This service is complimentary, can be easily modified or unsubscribed to at any time and is just one more reason you can count on Jim and Jordy to “Guide you Home and Beyond”.

Contact us now to set up your own personal and confidential PCS
Email: Team@CanmoreRealEstate.ca

New Year is a Time to Reflect and Look Forward

Looking forward to 2017 we observe:

1)  That the Town of Canmore is proud to support the Regional Public Transit "Roam Service" new to Canmore November 1, 2016, with local service now moving folks into the Three Sisters neighborhoods, Cougar Creek area and the Canmore Nordic Centre on weekends.  What a fabulous opportunity for home owners to divest one of two family cars and still have ready access to the downtown core.

2)  That Parks Canada is celebrating Canada's 150th anniversary in part by encouraging visitation to our awesome Banff National Park through free access all year, as is access to all National Parks in Canada in 2017.  Visitation to Banff townsite moved from 3.6m in 2015 to 3.8m in 2016 and expected to top 4.0m in 2017.  While traffic congestion is expected to ramp up, we welcome the many visitors to our area and hope they enjoy our surroundings as much as we all do.  The unprecedented visitation expected will certainly enhance our reputation as a world class destination community, much as the 1988 Winter Olympics did.
Link to your free pass here.

3)  That new development in Three Sisters Mountain Village will continue with the establishment of adequate and functional wildlife corridors.  Of interest are single family home lots, the first available in many years priced in the $500's.  Other significant developments include the Malcolm Hotel and Conference Center at Spring Creek Mountain Village, the first new Canmore hotel in over 20 years.  As well Creekstone Lodge presents residential condos for purchase and expect to hear more from us about a 7th project development to be announced later in 2017, possibly with some Tourist Home zoned product available.  Infill development continues in south Canmore and on Hospital Hill.  New Visitor Accommodation condos are currently under construction on Bow Valley Trail, immediately behind Elevation Place.

4) The trend by Lenders to disallow residential mortgage financing of all Visitor Accommodation and some Tourist Home condos is expected to continue.  All Buyers will need to come to market with cash to purchase these investment properties.  The construction of this type of product between 2008-2010 has been sold off and with no new construction occurring since that time plus stronger than ever Buyer demand, we report that as at Jan.1, only 17 vacation condos are available.  New listings are often sold day of list under multiple offer scenarios.  We expect that prices for this type of product will increase in 2017 simply due to supply and demand pressures.

5) There is currently a shortage of all property types on the market in the Bow Valley, with high buyer demand.  This indicates that it may be a great time to list your property for sale.  Please contact us for a free property valuation.

Wishing You Well - We wish all established Clients and new contacts a wonderful New Year.

Please let us know if you require an updated search profile for Private Client Services (PCS).  If you are not receiving PCS listing notifications, we suggest you call to discuss your property interests so we may provide this high tech advisory on a complimentary basis.

Please, allow us to Guide you Home and Beyond!