We are in interesting times in the real estate world. Sellers in Calgary and Okotoks are generally holding steady on price and are keeping their homes on the market for sale. New listings are definitely down for this time of year and current inventory levels are considerably less than the past few years. Price reductions in the past month have been following similar trends to what we would expect in a normal market for this time of year. Contrary to what you might expect, price reductions or sellers taking their homes off the market are actually far less than expected given Covid-19 and the price of Oil.
Statistically for March:
Calgary: Detached homes sold on average for $2,300 more in March 2020 than March 2019. The average reduction from list price to sale price was 2.92% in March 2020 vs 3.16% in 2019 (Selling price averaged $15,000 off list price). 662 homes sold in Calgary this March vs 786 homes in 2019.
Okotoks: Buyers managed to get 2.46% off the list price ($11,000 off list). In 2019 the average reduction from list was 2.8%. Sales volumes were down by 6 homes over March 2019.
Rural Foothills properties that sold ranged from $15,000 to $151,250 off list price. Sales volumes were down 6 properties year over year.
Sellers should expect buyers trying to take advantage of what they perceive as an opportunity to give low offers. We are seeing this now more than ever. The occasional seller needs to sell and thus accepts a lower than desired offer. However, this is not the norm.
I believe that come mid summer/early fall we will have a considerable amount of pent up demand from buyers and sellers of homes that would normally have happened in Q2 (April - June). There are so many reasons why people have to move and no matter what the economy, these reasons don’t go away. They may postpone, but eventually these people will need to move. During Q2, Calgary would normally have a total of 10,000-12,000 buyers and sellers involved in the sale of real estate. In Okotoks we would normally have 375-425 buyers and sellers involved in the sale of real estate and Rural Foothills properties would normally have 125-150 buyers and sellers. These people will come back once it is safe to do so.
The chart below shows how showings have really dropped off for the 70+ active RE/MAX Prime listings. This is to be expected given the public’s acceptance of physical and social distancing requirements of Covid-19. It should be noted that we have strict protocols in place for any showings that happen at this time. Any buyers out right now are seriously interested in buying.
