Thanks to steep pullbacks in the apartment condominium sector, total residential sales in Calgary eased by 17 per cent compared to May of last year. While the drop does seem significant, the 2,568 sales this month remain 11 per cent higher than long-term trends for May and improved over last month.
New listings continued to rise this month compared to sales, resulting in further gains in inventory levels. However, the monthly gain in both inventory and sales prevented any significant change in the months of supply compared to April. With 2.6 months of supply, conditions are still relatively balanced.
“Compared to last year, easing sales and rising inventories are consistent trends across many cities, as uncertainty continues to weigh on housing demand. However, prior to the economic uncertainty, Calgary was dealing with seller market conditions, and the recent pullbacks in sales and inventory have helped shift us toward balanced conditions taking the pressure off prices,” said Ann-Marie Lurie, Chief Economist at CREB®. “This is a different situation from some of the other larger cities, where their housing markets were struggling prior to the addition of economic uncertainty.”