Former CREB® president Bonnie Wegerich remembered challenges, successes in 2009

Bonnie Wegerich can sum up her time as CREB®'s president in 2009 with one word: recovery.

After residential resale housing prices in Calgary reached record highs in 2007, an economic downturn the following year caused prices to drop and sales to halt – a spillover effect that went well into Wegerich's year at the helm.

"In January, we had more sales than in December, and we were very excited about that. That's where we went from. Every month was getting better than it was," remembered Wegerich, a longtime real estate professional who worked and lived in Airdrie.

Housing officials say foreign investment shift too early to tell; still unwavering on city's potential

Calgary could be the new Vancouver. At least that's what has some real estate observers maintaining more than two months after the B.C. government imposed a 15 per cent land transfer tax on real estate purchases by foreign buyers in the province's most populated city.

Aimed at dampening foreign investment—mostly from mainland China, which has been suspected of pushing up demand and prices in markets such as Vancouver where the benchmark price for a home is close to $1 million – the tax appears to be working.

Southeast district facing increased competition from new home industry

Calgary's resale residential housing market continues to reveal its many layers, with experts singling out the southeast district as an area of the city struggling in the face of intense competition from the homebuilding industry.

This comes on the heels of CREB®'s recently released housing summary for September that indicated prices in other instances are exhibiting increased stability.

CREB® chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie noted home prices in the southeast have struggled more acutely than other districts in Calgary despite indicators that would initially suggest otherwise.

New listing levels starting to match sales

A new report indicates the segment of Calgary's resale residential housing market with the greatest influence on the overall market is showing signs of pricing stability.

The detached benchmark price totaled $503,400 in September, which is 3.3 per cent below last year, but the second consecutive month at this price level, reported CREB® today.

While overall economic conditions remain soft, for now the detached sector is demonstrating some steadiness in terms of pricing, the member-based organization said.

Opulent housing segment continues to show staying power in 2016

The highest end of the home market is a unique beast. It's a sector in which a small percentage drop in price can equate to hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings – and where a minimal increase in sales volume can look like a huge boom.

Year to date the number of $1-million-and-up homes sold in Calgary and area has increased 30-plus per cent over 2015. But in real numbers, the growth was just 99 sales, from 329 up to the end of August last year to 428 for the same period this year. (To put those numbers into context, overall about 14,000 homes changed hands in that period.)

Housing market offers some surprises, different perceptions, say local experts

A quick look at today's real estate market might not exactly fill first-time homebuyers with optimistic anticipation. Yet dig deeper and there's plenty of reason to get excited, say housing experts.

Even though home sales are down by double-digit percentages in terms of units sold and money spent compared to a year ago, the average selling price is up slightly — about two per cent, to $474,605 in August, according to CREB®.

Detached versus higher-density segments paint different pictures of health

Overall resale residential housing sales activity in Calgary was down again in August, totalling 1,567, reported CREB® in its monthly housing summary.

However, the organization noted this figure does not reflect the big differences in activity between the detached sector, versus the high density apartment and attached segments of the market.

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.

Districts, housing types tell different stories about Calgary's housing market in August

Fewer new listings within Calgary's resale residential housing market continued to moderate price declines last month, according to new statistics.

Yet experts note what's arguably more interesting is how the interplay between new listing levels and prices within the city's districts, and even housing types, are providing consumers with some much-needed intel on their next purchasing decision.

Out-of-town living resonates for those looking for laid-back lifestyle

Dusty Dancer likes his privacy – a natural evolution having owned an acreage property south of Calgary for nearly two decades.

So he gets the appeal of how some homeowners might be looking to leave the city for a little r 'n r.

"Some have their own nine-hole mini-golf course. You can make it whatever you want to be. You can't do that in the city," said Dancer, president of the DeWinton Community Association.