life at home | real estate
Market Analysis How the housing market has fared year-to-date
story by alex Frazer-harrison
Although Alberta as a whole continues to buck the economic is one of the drivers of Airdrie’s real estate market these days, she says. And for those looking for older homes, she believes that it’s a buyer’s
trends of other parts of Canada, it was still a quiet summer for market. “If they wait too long, they will miss a good market and wish they’d bought earlier,” she says. “There are a lot of good signs out there the Airdrie real estate market, say local realtors. “The really odd thing is there’s so much optimism out there – there’s still positive migration in Alberta, and the province has created 80,000 new jobs so far this year, yet so far Calgary [and area] is the only major market with pricing down year-to-date,” says Matt Carre, realtor with the Tennant Carre Group with Re/Max Rocky View.“We have a strong economy, yet we’re not seeing a real pickup in the number of sales. Yearto-date, we’re 10 less than last year.” Bonnie Wegerich of Century 21 Castlewood Agencies adds:“It’s kind of a bizarre market this year … all the signs for buying are positive. It seems in the fall we were expected to pick up a bit, and it hasn’t happened yet. But that could change tomorrow.” Wegerich considers the quiet summer “an anomaly,” given Airdrie’s continued economic growth and the continued development of new communities such as Hillcrest and Windsong on Airdrie’s south side. Demand for new, rather than preowned, homes among young buyers
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for everybody.” Carre agrees this is “a fantastic time to buy,” given continued low interest rates and no guarantee that situation will last forever. “First-time home buyers are still driving the market because of affordability,” he says. “They don’t have to worry about payout penalties … they don’t have those burdens. But higher-end stuff is taking its time to sell … anything over $450,000 is taking a bit longer.” However, Airdrie as a whole continues to be seen as a more affordable alternative to Calgary. Carre says that as of September the average price for a single-family home in Airdrie was $359,000, compared to $468,000 in Calgary.“I’d be willing to drive the Deerfoot for $109,000,” he says. Looking ahead, both Wegerich and Carre expect this ‘blip’ to work itself out. Continued development not only in this city, but in Balzac and north Calgary, will continue to drive interest in Airdrie real estate, Carre says. life