With new home starts down, inventories are stabilizing

New home construction in the Calgary region continues to be negatively affected by a struggling economy that has slowed down the pace of activity in the past two years – and more of the same is expected this year.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp's Richard Cho, principal market analyst for Calgary, says the pace of activity was starting to stabilize in the single-detached market as 2016 progressed.

''But on the multi-family side we saw inventory levels steadily rising throughout the year and they're pretty elevated levels for Calgary and they've had an impact on the number of new projects breaking ground last year,'' said Cho.

Housing experts predict Calgary's rental market to see another year of high vacancies, low rents

Calgary's rental housing market this year will not change much from 2016 as historically high vacancy rates will continue to usher in incentives and lower rents, say experts.

"We expect the vacancy rate to remain close to 2016 levels" said Richard Cho, Calgary-based principal market analyst for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC).

Downtown office commercial market to see higher vacancy rates in 2017

Despite setting a third-quarter record with a reported $11.2 billion in sales, Calgary's commercial real estate sector will likely see vacancy rates continue to soar this year and next, predicts real estate firm CBRE Ltd.

CBRE Calgary-based managing director Greg Kwong said the downtown market will feel it the hardest, with vacancy rates that are expected to close in on 30 per cent.

Energy project approvals spark good news for real estate; just unclear as to when, say experts

In the closing days of 2016, Calgary's oil-driven housing market has received a welcome jolt of excitement from the federal government.

Ottawa approved not one, but two multi-billion-dollar oil pipeline projects, promising to move nearly one million barrels per day (bpd) of additional oil to United States and global markets upon completion. The two new pipeline projects would increase Canadian oil shipping capacity by 24.9 per cent.

CREB®Now sits down with 2017 CREB® Forecast and Tradeshow keynote speaker Manjit Minhas

Manjit Minhas is a name brand – literally. She's CEO and co-founder of Minhas Breweries & Distillery, makers of Boxer Lager, Lazy Mutt Ale and Huber Bock. And for the past two years, she's gained national fame as a Dragon on CBC's Dragon's Den. In January, Minhas will be the keynote speaker at the 2017 CREB® Forecast and Tradeshow.

CREB®Now recently had the opportunity to sit down with her to get a sneak peek at what she plans to talk about.

CREA expects sales to struggle to maintain traction in 20016-17

MLS® sales in Alberta are expected to increase for the balance of the year due to better-than-expected activity during the second quarter and health levels heading into the third quarter, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) in its revised 2016 forecast.

The national REALTOR® agency added, however, that the current economic climate suggests Alberta sales may struggle to maintain traction over the remainder of 2016 and into 2017.

Alberta sales activity is expected to finish the year down 8.8 per cent to 51,500 transactions - the largest decline in the country as the province's economy struggles with a sluggish energy industry.

Nationally, sales activity is forecast to rise by six per cent to 535,900 units in 2016, which is little changed from CREA's previously predicted sales increase of 6.1 per cent to 536,400 units this year. This represents a new record for annual sales.

Clair J. Cote Jr. follows in father's historic footsteps by leading CREB® through 1974

When Clair J. Cote Jr. became CREB®'s president in 1974, Calgary was partway through a decade marked by unprecedented growth, both in business and real estate development.

The year prior, the Arab oil embargo set off the first global energy crisis, leading to efforts in Alberta to lessen the dependence on foreign oil. Calgary, where oil companies were headquartered, prospered.

For Cote, the 1970s stand out as a time in which his brokerage, which started in 1964, grew.

RBC releases new housing trends, affordability report

Despite signs of a modest recovery in home resale activity, Calgary's housing market continued to struggle amid plentiful supply of homes available for sale, declining prices and softening demographics fundamentals, according to RBC Economics' recent Housing Trends and Affordability report.

RBC said its cost-of-ownership measure for Calgary rose by 0.3 percentage points in the second quarter to 33 per cent of a typical family's pre-tax income, still well below the long-term average of 40.4 per cent for the area.

Both the single-detached and condo segments registered small improvements.

Former CREB® president Corinne Lyall focused on different drivers behind housing market in 2015

Corinne Lyall is all too familiar with many of the challenges currently facing homebuyers and sellers in Calgary. She served as CREB®'s president just last year when the economic downturn was arguably at its strongest, is currently past president on the board of directors for the real estate member organization and is broker at her own firm Royal Lepage Benchmark.

Yet her message today is the same as it was when she had the gavel in hand: real estate is personal.

Experts provide feedback on Calgary's real estate market so far

It has been an interesting year for the Calgary real estate market considering the city's economy is still struggling due to ongoing uncertainty in the energy sector.

According to CREB®, year-to-date, until the end of July, MLS® sales of 10,952 were down 10.1 per cent compared with the same period a year ago. New listings of 21,191 were off by 2.23 per cent, but active listings of 5,847 were up by 9.64 per cent.

The average MLS sales price of $479,597 increased by 1.2 per cent. However, the benchmark price was down 3.68 per cent to $443,386.

Some housing and business experts were asked what has been the most surprising thing this year about the Calgary real estate market. Here are their responses: