Canadians are still enjoying mild spring temperatures, but Calgary’s housing market is in a heatwave, according to the latest multi-family take from Zonda Urban.
Exclusive data from the website shows for the first quarter of this year, there were 1,373 new multi-family home sales in Calgary — that’s the highest total Q1 sales total and the fourth-highest quarterly volume ever recorded.
Sales have been buoyed with an increase of options hitting the market and supply is surging in the city. Released and unsold inventory levels increased by 36 per cent quarter-over-quarter and experienced its largest quarterly volume since Q4-2021 with 2,229 units. Sales in Calgary increased by a whopping 131 percent on a quarterly basis — the largest quarter-over quarter sales increase on record.
In addition, 18 projects were launched over the first quarter of 2024, which will add 408 new townhome units and 1,108 new condominium units to Calgary’s new multi-family home market.
Homebuyers continue to flock to Alberta
Home prices are rising in the province, as more people continue to flock to the area. The average price across all new multi-family home products this quarter was $482,500. That’s a 13 per cent increase when compared to Q1-2023. While Calgary prices remain on the upswing, they are still lower than other markets such as Vancouver and Toronto, which is continuing to drive the city’s appeal for those from out-of-province.
Meanwhile, local buyers have not been deterred by the price increases, and Zonda Urban speculates that the belief of low supply combined with potential interest rate drops may drive additional higher quarterly sales in the future.
Incentive offerings have also increased, according to Zonda Urban. There was a 44 per cent rise in the number of projects offering incentives quarter-over-quarter. Out of the 127 active projects in Calgary, 36 of them offered incentives to prospective buyers. Some notable incentives offered to prospective buyers included two years of zero condominium fees, a two-year rental guarantee, a year-long mortgage rate hold, and a $5,000 to $15,000 discount off the purchase price.
