Homes sales in Calgary continue to slow

Expect home sales in Calgary to continue to lag for much of the year.

The Calgary Real Estate Board is out with a revised forecast for 2015, and it’s predicting overall sales will fall by 22 per cent to less than 20,000.

Home prices however, will only slip 0.2 per cent.

CREB says, while the initial shock of declining oil prices has faded, a slower than expected recovery for the commodity, will continue to keep some buyers on the sidelines into next year.

CREB Chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie says when the annual forecast was compiled in December, analysts expected oil to average more than $60 a barrel.

Lurie says this has implications on employment levels, and ultimately our housing market.

“We do anticipate that housing sales will remain weak due to these low employment levels in the second half of the year,” Lurie said. “So, we’re expecting further contractions in employment as what’s been forecasted. This will continue to have a downward pressure on sale activity.”

Lurie added it’s not going to be the double digit decline that some have suggested.

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