Alberta Real Estate Update

Alberta home sales rise on year-over-year basis in February 2017. Residential sales activity reported through the MLS® Systems of real estate boards in Alberta numbered 3,830 units in February 2017, rising 20.8% from a year earlier. This stood just below but broadly in line with the five and 10-year averages for the month.On a year-to-date basis home sales totaled 6,509 units over the first two months of the year, up 19.5% from the same period in 2016.Nationally, home sales activity was down 2.6% from year-ago levels in February 2017.The provincial average price for homes sold in February 2017 was $389,943, edging up just 0.5% from a year earlier. The year-to-date average price figure was $387,102, up 1.6% from the first two months of 2016. Across Alberta, monthly residential average prices were up from year-ago levels in Calgary (+2.6%), Grande Prairie (7.2%), Lloydminster AB (15.6%) and Alberta West (8.4%). By contrast, average prices declined year-over-year in Fort McMurray (-19.9%), Lethbridge (-4.2%), Edmonton Board (-0.5%), Central Alberta (-6.3%), Medicine Hat (-10%) and South Central Alberta (-4%).