November 2015, Canmore Real Estate Market Update

Year-to-Date Stats November 2015

Our market has been quite different from Calgary’s so far. We do have a slight decline in sales, but prices are still appreciating in a healthy way.
For all residential property sales in Canmore:

                                      Jan-Dec 2013        Jan -Dec, 2014        Jan -Nov5, 2015

Sales                                     418                            403                        304 (Year-to-Date)

Average Sale$               $607,000                  $616,000                  $668,000

Days OM                            99                                74                                  74

Lower sales in 2015 but increase in price. Inventory and the market in the area is balanced with neither the buyers or sellers being particularly favored.

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What Do These Above Stats Mean?

-In 2015 in Canmore, we have seen a decrease in the number of sales from the same time in 2013 and 2014.. We have also seen a stead and healthy appreciation in market prices.

-The number of sales have likely declined some, due to the low oil prices that has affected much of Alberta. This seems to have had a minor effect on the Canmore sales activities. The increase in market value is likely due to the genuine need for housing in the area.

-We currently have 189 residential listings on Canmore market, (minus Hotel Condos and lots. Excluding surrounding towns.) which is on the balanced to low end of inventory on the market. We were seeing double this inventory at times during the last recession in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

-It is likely that there will continue to be adequate sales volume and reasonable appreciation or possibly a plateau for a period until the oil industry re-stabilizes.

Canmore remains a safe, solid location to purchase property, due to several factors:

There is genuine need for housing in Canmore (We currently have the lowest vacancy rate for rentals in Canada. there are far more renters than homes available)

Lack of inventory for detached housing.

Very few new construction projects.

Buyers are still mostly Albertans. Despite the low Canadian dollar vs US dollar, we are still seeing relatively few American buyers. We expect to see a greater number of US buyers in 2015-2016.