Real estate market continues to see an imbalance of new listings, according to local observers who say the seller's market remains very active.--News Photo Collin Gallant
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
The local real estate market only shows minor signs of a slowdown due to a tight supply of new listings, the head of the Medicine Hat Real Estate Board said Tuesday.
The number of residential sales dipped in April compared both to last year and to the previous month, whereas transactions typically ramp up heading into spring.
“We’re definitely in a seller’s market, and it’s still in a very active real-estate market,” said Justin Taupert, a realtor and chair of the Medicine Hat and Area Real estate Board. He said the number of new listings coming on the market are the lowest the region has seen since 2002.
“Low inventory is having some upward pressure on prices,” he said, adding that in terms of the effect of higher interest rates, “We haven’t seen any negative impacts.”
The industry considers there to be about two months worth of supply in current listings, whereas typically there is about four. It is about one-third less than levels last spring in terms of single-family homes, and only half as much for semi-detached properties.
“Sellers are looking into where they are going to move, and it’s bumping everyone’s timelines a little bit,” Taupert said. “Right now single-family (sales are) really driving the market, but those other segments are active as well.”
The average closing price of 93 detached home sales in April was $359,700, about seven per cent above prices from spring 2021 – but with almost 30 fewer sales – that’s above the year-to-date prices.
For the first four months of 2022, more than 300 transactions saw the average price rise to $338,000, up just 2 per cent but after years of run up.
The average home sale last calendar year closed at $330,700, compared to $318,500 in 2020 and $278,700 in 2019.
Semi-detached sales are lower in 2022, but with a healthy 10 per cent increase in price to $328,300 per unit on average. Row housing sales are up for the year along with a six per cent bump in average unit price to $225,100.
Apartment and condo unit prices are down nine per cent for 2022, essentially giving up the nine per cent increase they earned over the course of 2021.
