This is one of those times when the stats don't seem to match what is happening in reality. Yesterday, our brokerage held our first-ever "Liv Better Day": where we learned a ton, celebrated our award winners (we give out awards for customer service excellence, leadership, community involvement and teamwork, not sales), and ended the day with a charity challenge where we gave away $4500 to local charities. I had a chance to discuss the market with a lot of our agents, and the stories I kept hearing were of multiple offers. Well priced, well marketed listings are getting a lot of interest from buyers in the Edmonton area.
When you glance at the numbers below, they seem to suggest the market is slow. But really, we're comparing what has started off as a good year, to a record breaking year. Sales are well ahead of 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2002, but well below 2021 and 2022.
In Calgary, they have the lowest inventory they've seen since 2006. Here in Edmonton, our inventory is up from last year, but a bit below average. The increase in new listings has helped keep us in a balanced market in Edmonton, but that is trending towards a seller's market.
Alberta's housing sector is poised for a very strong year ahead. The world economy is strong, labor market is still red-hot, the provincial economy is the strongest in Canada, interprovincial migration is strong, and 800,000 immigrants to Canada this year will not all be able to afford to settle in Southern Ontario or anywhere in BC so unless they want to live in Montreal (beautiful city and one of my favorite places in Canada, but they they can only absorb so many) a lot more of them than you think will end up in Alberta. This is literally the last major province in Canada where housing is affordable, both as a roof over your head, and as an investment that is cash-flow positive (or at least neutral). I'm bullish on Alberta this year, and over the next decade. Calgary is set to boom, Edmonton will ride the overall wave.
Posted by Trev on Friday, March 3rd, 2023 at 12:33pmLeave A Comment