The inventory in Calgarys housing market remained low in January keeping the pressure high on prices for resale homes. The Calgary Real Estate Board has reported that there were 2,393 new listings added during January, which was a decrease of 4.01 when compared to January of 2013. Active listings were also down 18.16 when compared to January of last year when 2,524 were listed.
The inventory in Calgary has been declining at a steady rate in 2013 and into 2014. There has been a lot of demand for housing in all sectors including single-family homes, luxury homes, condos, townhomes and duplexes. Continued migration into the city, plenty of job opportunities, higher wages and low rates of unemployment continued to attract people on a national and international level.
Its not uncommon to see a home selling within days of being placed on the listings and for multiple offers to be put on the table when a home is priced right and is in a desirable part of town. In some cases, competing offers can lead to a final sale that has a higher selling price than the original price listed.
Due to the low inventory and high demand for homes, many people are looking outside of the city in the bedroom communities such as Okotoks, Airdrie, and Cochrane for a new place to live. Many of these individuals that decide to call these small towns their new home end up staying there down the road because they like the lifestyle in a small town close to a big city.
It continues to be a sellers market right now inside Calgary and buyers need to be prepared ahead of time. If youre ready to purchase a home and have found a property you love, its time to submit a serious offer. Its not a buyer’s market right now and submitting an offer that is too low can very well lead to losing the bidding war to somebody elses higher offer.