Cost of buying or renting a condo in Calgary tumbles as supply nears record levels | Globalnews.ca
According to Anne-Marie Lurie, chief economist for the Calgary Real Estate Board (CREB), a spate of new construction and development in Calgary is leading to lower prices for apartments and condos in the city.
“We’re seeing a lot of rental construction happen across the city,” Lurie said. “You know, a lot (of) new developments.”
With 1,774 units available in March, according to CREB’s latest stats on housing starts, the inventory is just shy of the record high reported during the financial crisis of 2008.
The Calgary Real Estate Board says the number of condos for sale in Calgary in March was just short of the record high set during the financial crisis of 2008.
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While the supply is up, the cost of purchasing a condo is down according to the latest numbers from the Calgary Real Estate Board.
The average price of $300,300 in March is about nine per cent less than the same month last year.
“In terms of how the market is shifting is we’re really seeing additional supply choice, relative to the demand,” said Lurie. “So softer conditions for sure for that apartment condo style product. That’s something that we’ve been seeing for several months (and it’s) just really persisting into spring.”
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The increased supply and lower prices also mean its a good time to buy a condo, according to Calgary realtor Ariel Buenaventura of ReMax First.
“One hundred per cent. It’s definitely a buyer’s market for condos. I’d say a pretty solid strategy would be to sit and watch the market as it declines in prices, but there comes a point where the property’s price is so attractive that another person’s going to see that and snap it up,” said Buenaventura
“So there’s kind of this balancing act that you have to say, OK, this is probably the bottom. We got to buy this thing or else somebody else will.”
Buenaventura estimates many condos that were on the market for 30 days or less last year are on the market for double or triple that this year before being sold.
The lower cost of purchasing a condo, claims Buenaventura, is also turning many prospective buyers into renters.
“Rental rates right now are falling because there’s so much inventory coming online. There’s a lot of purpose-built rentals,” said Buenaventura.
“Almost every single crane that you see downtown, those are building rentals, there’s office conversions happening, and because of that you’ve got a more affordable rent.”
Calgary realtor Ariel Buenaventura says the number of new condos being built and office conversions being done in Calgary is also driving down both prices and the cost of rent.
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While overall the supply of condos is up and prices are down in Calgary, CREB claims some areas of the city are also more affected than others.
“City Center hasn’t seen as much of an adjustment as opposed to the northeast,” or the southeast, said Lurie.
“Higher levels of price adjustment is either because there’s a lot of supply in those areas where there’s lots of new construction and a lot of new developments happening — so in the northeast all the way down into that southeast — as opposed to other areas (where) we’re just seeing some modest adjustments, like the northwest, city center and to a lesser extent some of the south” added Lurie.
The buyers market for condos is forecast to continue for the rest of this year and into 2027.
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