It may be the weather but the Calgary housing market is coming off a ridiculously slow winter and into a (so far) slow spring.  Except for a blip of sales towards the end of the year where people were buying to beat the new stress test, listings are up and sales are down by 30%. There was a mad rush for sellers to get houses on the market a month ago which brought total listings into the 6700 mark, a good 1000 above average.

 

Prices for the most part have held steady on average.  Huge jumps in the inner city have been counterbalanced by reductions in the suburbs and condos. Detached houses take about 3 months to sell (an average historically in a balanced market) while townhouses and condos can sit on the market for as much as 6-8 months.

 

With weather improving, there is a change the market will pick up significantly but a lot of unknown factors still exist.  Confidence is up as the job market improves. Overall the market is still weighed slightly in favour of buyers but GOOD listings are snapped up pretty quickly.

 

I expect a see-saw ride for the rest of the year with occasional bursts of activity followed by periods of dormancy.