The improvement of the Calgary housing market continued in December with further stability capping off a stronger second half of the year.

New figures from the Calgary Real Estate Board show that activity returned to levels close to those seen in the past five years with annual sales up 1%.

“Price declines, lower mortgage rates and some modest improvements in full-time employment helped support some demand growth in the city. Reductions in supply are also contributing to the slow adjustment to more stable conditions in the housing market,” said CREB® chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie.

Annually, the attached homes segment was the star performer with sales up by nearly 7% for a total of 3,780 sales. Apartments just outpaced year-ago levels with 2,672 units sold, while detached sales were broadly in line with those of a year earlier.

Price pressures
Overall prices in 2019 declined by 3% year-over-year, marking a 10% decline since the 2014 slowdown in the energy sector.

“As oversupply in the market continues to ease, we should start to see more stabilization in prices. However, conditions continue to favour the buyer and this is weighing on prices,” added Lurie.

For December, attached sales were up 14% to 220, apartments gained 27.6% to 134 sales, and detached sales increased 1.6% to 504.

December’s unadjusted benchmark prices were $418,500, just slightly lower than November and 1% below last year’s levels.

Detached benchmark prices were $480,100 in December contributing to the 2019 average of $484,808, three per cent below last year’s levels.

December semi-detached prices were $388,200 and row prices were $283,000. Both segments saw annual price declines in excess of three per cent and remain well below previous highs.