Steady as she goes… October 2011 was a reasonable month for real estate sales in the Bow Valley. A total of 26 properties were sold (Canmore Real Estate Broker’s Group Data) with single family homes leading the charge at nine sales. Sales were on par with September’s numbers and up from October 2010. On the whole, sales continue to be quite soft with 13 months of inventory on the market; when hotel condos are removed. Overall listings are down from last month, but up slightly (8%) from last year with a total of 411 active listings; 320 when you remove vacation accommodation units.
Values for single family homes remain stable for the most part. There is currently an overwhelming supply of mid-range single family homes in the $575,000 to $750,000 with very few sales. Some sellers have started to get very aggressive with their pricing and we could see values in this segment continue to decrease slightly. Luxury single family homes continue to hold steady with relatively few sales in this segment.
Apartment style condominiums values continue to trend downwards as there remains a lot of competition. Median list price is $359,900 with median sales price of $327,000. Townhouse condominiums values are trending downward slightly as well with a median list price for all listings of $524,800 and a median sale price of $410,000. Average sale price is $410,432 with seven sales and average list price is $601,442. Values for duplexes are generally holding steady.
We’ve run into another challenge with hotel condominiums, with Genworth and CMHC no longer approving mortgages on certain buildings. This is including units zoned Tourist Home where people could live full time, but are in a hotel condo. This will prove another hurdle for sellers of these units, with buyers now needing either cash or private money.
According to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ 2012 Emerging Trends in Real Estate report, foresees a fairly strong real estate market for Alberta as a whole. As Canmore is one third second home owners, much of our values are tied to both the oil markets and world markets as a whole. Banff’s tourist economy and as a result housing sector is again tied to world markets. As long as oil remains at a reasonable level, sales should remain steady.
For Full Graphs, Visit : http://canmorebanffrealestate.ca/?page_id=13
