Found 56 blog entries tagged as Calgary Real Estate.

People are Moving to Alberta

Recent data from the moving company U-Haul suggests more people moved into Alberta in 2021 than any other province. In fact, Alberta jumped from being the third most moved-to province in 2020 to overtaking British Columbia for top spot. The number one city in the province for U-Haul arrivals last year was Calgary! Calgary’s bedroom community of Airdrie was also a destination of choice, ranking 24th nationally, a drop from its 19th place the year prior. In 2021, the communities of Red Deer and Medicine Hat also received a significant influx of U-Haul trucks, ranking 8th and 15th respectively, which again is remarkable as neither city placed in the top 25 the year prior. These smaller locations that are experiencing an…

434 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

By Rebecca Wissink

Walkability is all about how friendly a place is for those who choose to walk - with the presence of sidewalks, footpaths, or pedestrian lanes, and favorable roads and traffic conditions for accessibility and safety. A walkable community has significant places to walk to, like restaurants, shops, and other amenities, and encourages its citizens to get out and mingle on the streets.

Walking not only offers health and economic benefits to homeowners, but from the city’s perspective, walkability is about health and fiscal responsibility too. The executive director of Sustainable Calgary, Celia Lee, says the city needs to invest in creating walkable communities. Lee suggests the increase in chronic diseases across Canada over the…

599 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

By Rebecca Wissink

The Calgary Herald reported recently what Realtors® specializing in luxury real estate already knew first-hand – the luxury market has exploded over the last year, particularly between the price points of 1 million - 1.4 million dollars. Luxury real estate expert Ross Pavl reports “the luxury market in Calgary is doing really well, and mindful buyers who are not forced to panic buy to avoid increasing interest rates are snapping up homes that tick the right boxes, like those with a good location, or that back onto a green space.”

There is no denying that Calgary’s market is hot and breaking records. The Calgary Real Estate Board (CREB) has reported an astonishing 222 percent growth in sales, year-over-year, for homes listed over 1…

671 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

By Rebecca Wissink

When I read anything that links Calgary’s current real estate market to the conditions of the market in 2006-07, alarm bells go off in my head. Rumours of bidding wars and offers over list price have come to Calgary. Inventory is tight and sales are up between 66-109% depending on the home type. The Calgary Real Estate Board (CREA) reported on March 1, 2022 “the benchmark price reached $596,400, which is nearly $50,000 higher than prices seen at the end of 2021 [a few months ago!] and over $90,000 higher than February 2021 prices.” I’ve written elsewhere for Ross Pavl that Calgary’s boom came later than most markets in Canada, not really taking flight until the winter of 2021. I remember what happened to real estate in Alberta in…

691 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

VR in Real Estate

By Simon Rose

Virtual reality or VR is a kind of technology that’s been around for a while now. With VR, a person can view a three-dimensional image or perhaps an entire environment and even interact with it. VR is able to create and resemble how things will or do look in the real world. Alternately, VR can create a completely different fantasy landscape or an alien planet for one to explore. It’s been predicted for quite a while now that virtual reality would be the next major technological development. Historically, its been widely utilized in things like video games and the entertainment industry. Today, VR is being used notably in the real estate business. The ongoing pandemic and restrictions on people meeting in close…

350 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

By Rebecca Wissink

From coast to coast, real estate records were smashed across the nation in 2021. Some markets saw insane price increases of 25-30%. For example, the Greater Montreal area gained 27.45%, Ottawa gained 23.3%, and Vancouver gained 18.62% (year-over-year benchmark prices from 2020 to 2021). Calgary and the surrounding communities of Airdrie and Cochrane did not see these astronomical surges. So, how did Calgary's real estate market fare in 2021? Calgary was late to the party, but in late 2021 when most markets settled down a bit, Calgary was just catching fire.  

Calgary’s market broke records of its own last year, and the area rings in 2022 with some of the tightest conditions observed in over a decade. The number of homes sold,…

657 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

Calgary’s Resale Housing Market: The Overview

By Mario Toneguzzi

It won’t be another record year in 2022 for Calgary’s resale housing market but MLS activity is expected to remain stronger than levels experienced in recent years.\

Ann-Marie Lurie, the Calgary Real Estate Board’s Chief Economist, is forecasting overall prices in the residential market to increase by 4.46 per cent in 2022 compared to last year’s hike of 8.25 per cent with overall sales dipping to 25,598 from the record high of 27,686 in 2021.

In her annual forecast report, Lurie says the residential real estate market in the Calgary region is being supported by strong economic fundamentals.

Citing the Conference Board of Canada, Lurie says Alberta can expect annual GDP…

346 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

By Rebecca Wissink

There is an age-old saying that applies to investments: buy low, sell high. And there is no doubt that housing has become an investment in the minds of many. Calgary, the third largest city in Canada behind Toronto and Montreal, is the cheapest of the large metropolitan areas for housing, as seen in Table 1 below. Does this alone make it primed for investors to start snapping up real estate? Not necessarily. This article explores some of the factors that might be influencing folks to invest in Calgary real estate. But first, let me address your shock that Vancouver is not bigger than Calgary, as I assure you this is not a typo. The city of Vancouver is actually quite small at 631,486 people. It is the Metro Vancouver area that is…

430 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

How Old is Old?

By Simon Rose

Just exactly how old is old these days? Improvements in medical care and deeper knowledge of fitness and nutrition have increased life expectancy. Today many people are living into their eighties and beyond, whereas thirty or forty years ago this was much less common. As the population has aged, this has led to a rethink in how companies engage in marketing and promotion to older potential customers.

The fast pace of technological developments over recent decades has been a big factor in this. It almost seems that in the past, companies simply assumed that old people wouldn’t be able to use computer technology or the Internet. Perhaps they would not even be interested in it at all. In addition, since this is an…

329 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

Real Estate Forecasts and Loving Your Job

By Danielle Rourke

Ann-Marie Lurie loves her job. I mean she really truly loves her job. It’s one of those phrases so many of us strive to truly feel. With 11 years of working as chief economist for CREB under her belt, Ann-Marie is no stranger to forecasting real estate. And she adores every minute of it. Many of you may know her as a popular CREB forecast speaker, this year recent presentation being no different. I had the pleasure of speaking with Ann-Marie, a born and raised Calgarian, uncovering a little more about her, and about what she sees in our future for 2022.

While studying at U of C, Ann-Marie originally planned on becoming an accountant. With the encouragement of several professors, she…

373 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post