Year End Summary
As cold weather hits and holiday preparations start, the Calgary real estate market has come to its typical December halt. 2024 was yet another busy year for Calgary Real Estate. Being one of the top-performing markets in the country, our average sales price across all market segments has risen 14.5% over the course of the year. But the single most mind-bending stat is that from March to June,the average sales price to list price was 101.5%!
Our market has been incredibly demand-driven post-Covid. Currently, inventory is 45% higher than this time last year, which one may assume would negatively impact pricing, but we have yet to see that. My belief, and what I have personally been seeing, is that sidelined spring buyers who didn’t want to compete are re-entering the market at a much less competitive time of year. This has helped to keep demand on par with the increased winter supply. This increased supply heading into the new year may also mean that we see some relief from the extremely low spring inventory levels we have seen over the last couple of years.
What Will The New Year Bring?
Heading into 2025, I maintain a very bullish stance on the Calgary real estate market.
Our city currently has the highest GDP per capita and the highest personal income per capita of major Canadian cities. Calgary is also projected to add 22,500 new jobs per year through 2029.
Alberta is trending towards 138,000 new residents annually. Although housing starts have gradually started to increase (up 25% since October 2023) and our supply is slowly growing, this still doesn’t put us at a pace that can keep up with the expected demand we will continue to see in the coming years.
Since the start of rapid rate increases in 2022, most buyers needing loans have chosen fixed rates over variable rates. However, I have started to see more buyers look towards the variable rate, which has dropped by over 1% since April. With the unknown “Trump Effect” and how proposed tariffs will affect Canadians, it is hard to predict how bond yields will be affected, and therefore, our fixed rates will act in the coming year. I believe we will see more buyers look towards the cheaper variable rates to increase buying power.
Going into 2025, I will continue to look at all these macro and micro factors. If demand is as strong as the previous two years and increased buying power from lower rates continues, I believe our market will perform extremely well and see gains similar to the last two years.