Calgary home sales jumped in April, driven by lower-priced houses, says real estate board

The Calgary Real Estate Board says April home sales were up 7.3 per cent from last year, driven by growth in the number of relatively more affordable, higher-density properties changing hands.

The board says 2,881 units were sold last month, while the benchmark price across all home types was $603,700 for April up 9.9 per cent from a year earlier and one per cent from March.

New listings rose 11.5 per cent year-over-year to 3,491 and there were 2,711 units in inventory, 16.2 per cent lower than last year and half the levels traditionally seen in April.

Ann-Marie Lurie, chief economist at CREB, says "persistently high-interest rates" have driven demand toward more affordable properties in the market while contributing to growth of listings for higher-priced properties.

"While we have listings that are improving, much of those listings growth is actually happening in the higher price ranges. So what we're seeing is that conditions are exceptionally tight really in the lower price points of the market."

She says supply of homes priced below $500,000 has declined29 per cent, amid supply growth in homes priced above $700,000.

"Detached homes used to be the primary source of activity in our market, [and] that has fallen for sure. So that under $500,000 is really just not much there at all anymore."

Properties were on the market for an average of 20 days before selling in April, down 14.4 per cent from last year.