April 2023 is showing signs of a cooling of the number of detached homes sold in Calgary and Okotoks. In Calgary, volumes are down 50% over the last couple years. In our last two booms in Alberta, 2007 and 2014, sales volumes where double what we are seeing for this April. The last time volumes were this low was when the market bottomed out in 2011. Okotoks is worse off. Sales volumes are less than half the previous couple years and half that of 2014 and 2007. Part of the problem is inventory; there are only 37 detached homes for sale in Okotoks and under 1,000 in Calgary right now. In our past booms, we had the same issue of low inventory. Affordability is a major issue. Most of the inventory for sale in Calgary (74%) and Okotoks (70%) is above the $650,000 price point. That means in the whole of Calgary, there are less than 300 homes for sale under $650,000 and only 11 in Okotoks. This segment of the market is very hot right now. However, sales volumes (under $650k) are down 65% from last year. It’s a wierd market and my crystal ball is a bit off kilter. We have people moving here, relocations from BC and Ont are up, unemployment is still high relative to other centers. We are in strange times indeed.