The art of selling your home quickly

What separates a home that sits on the market for months from one that's sold in a week? Industry experts say it comes down to properly executing proven strategies and techniques.

Calgary-based real estate agent Christina Hagerty with Re/Max Realty Professionals, who has been working the industry for more than two decades, said homes that sell quickly in this market tend to have sellers who are willing to do what needs to be done quickly – even if that means cancelling poker night for a last-minute showing.

She added motivated sellers also know the market before they list – meaning they won't waste money on things such as unnecessary pre-sale renovations.

Calgary falling behind on bike-sharing initiatives, say experts

The norm, rather than the exception: that's how cycling advocates describe the future of bike-sharing programs, which, like Car2go, offer a fleet of bikes (instead of cars) to the public for brief-period rental.

According to Google's Bike-Sharing World Map, 977 cities worldwide already participate in such systems.

Calgary is not one of them.

By the numbers

With much of the news coming out of Calgary's commercial market negative, especially for many of those that once toiled away in one of the city's many office towers, the future of downtown Calgary is, in many ways, up in the air. Adding to the uncertainty are several new office towers set to be added to downtown Calgary in the coming months. CREB®Now looks at some of the numbers coming out of Calgary's evolving skyline.

16%
Inversely tied to the declining price of oil, the vacancy rate in Calgary's office market has increased from around six per cent in 2014 to a once unfathomable 18 per cent in 2016, according to commercial real estate firm Colliers International.

CREB®Now presents 'No Guff Gardener' Donna Balzer

Calgary's 35th annual Calgary Home + Garden Show has announced its full list of personalities that will be on hand for this year's show at the BMO Centre.

HGTV star and landscaping expert Carson Arthur, master craftsman André Chevigny of HGTV's Timber Kings, along with Calgary's top gardeners and design experts, will be on hand for this year's edition, as well as more than 650 exhibitors and local vendors.

Also on hand will be Calgary's "No Guff Gardener" Donna Balzer, presented by CREB®Now. A self-described farmer's daughter, army brat and university graduate in horticulture, Balzer co-hosted the award-winning "Bugs & Blooms" segment on HGTV, and answers Alberta-wide garden questions on CBC radio. She is currently a regular communist in CREB®Now.

Highland Park president says lack of communication complicating secondary suites issue

A local community association president says a lack of consultation by at least one member of council is adding to the disconnect between Calgary residents in support of the suites and those on city council who have voted against wider approval.

Highland Park Community Association president Elise Bieche said despite a "large" majority of those in her Ward 4 community who support the suites, Ward 4 Coun. Sean Chu hasn't contacted anyone with the association to gauge their opinion.

"I don't think he's ever surveyed Highland Park. That would be my guess," she said. "Sean has never asked me my opinion on secondary suites or my board's opinion, because my board has actually endorsed our stance on secondary suites. So it's not as though I've gone rogue or there's a disconnect between me and how my community feels on secondary suites."

Provincial levels in fourth quarter steady; up on annual basis

Non-residential construction levels in the province surprised many in the fourth quarter of 2015, remaining relatively flat when compared with the same period the previous year at $2.74 billion, according to Statistics Canada.

"Signs of the economic slowdown are all around us in Alberta, but the one surprising indicator where we have yet to see much downturn is construction activity," said ATB Financial chief economist Todd Hirsch.

"Indeed, if a Martian landed in downtown Edmonton or Calgary today, it might well assume that the province is booming."

CREB®Now sits down with incoming president Cliff Stevenson 

Softness in the provincial economy is expected to challenge Calgary's resale residential housing market in 2016. How will the market react?

CREB®Now recently had a chance to sit down with CREB®'s incoming president Cliff Stevenson to ask him five questions about the local housing industry in the year ahead.

CREB®Now: ?How will buyers and sellers react in what's expected to be a down economy?

Stevenson: Sellers are going to be more choosy with their timing in this calendar year. Someone who is working with a real estate professional is going to spend a lot more time on strategy with respect to pricing and timing. And buyers, especially first-time buyers and investors, will do their best to time the bottom, but I think that will be really difficult. So, I think this year it will be the guessing game by first-time buyers and investors of when will be the best time to get into the market. But I would suspect there are going to be some challenges with that.

A recap from social media

It's all over for another year.

CREB® recently wrapped a bow on its 2016 Forecast & Tradeshow at the BMO Centre, where nearly 1,000 real estate professionals and industry partners gathered to hear from experts on what the local housing market could look like in the year ahead.

In addition to hearing from much-anticipated keynote Stefan Swanepoel and CREB® chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie, guests to this year's show had an opportunity to hear from incoming CREB® president Cliff Stevenson, hear from representatives from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) and take in afternoon panel discussions with Conference Board of Canada, Alberta Department of Energy, Brookfield Residential, the City of Calgary and more.

Here is a snapshot of what attendees were saying about this year's event:

Calgary vacancy rate could go even higher in 2016, say experts

Renters in Calgary stand to gain the most from the energy sector's misfortune, with vacancy rates expected to increase after already jumping almost five-fold over the past year.

According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.'s (CMHC) Fall Market Report released in early December, Calgary's vacancy rate rose from 1.4 per cent in fall 2014 to 5.3 per cent in October 2015.

The national average was 3.3 per cent.

"We expect the vacancy rate to edge even higher in 2016," said CMHC principal of market analysis Richard Cho. "And with higher vacancy rates, tenants will have more choice in the market and landlords will have to do more to attract renters, naturally putting more downward pressure on rents.

A cloud of uncertainty hangs over top of Calgary's housing market in 2016. To help anxious buyers and sellers, here are a few key numbers from CREB®'s 2016 Economic Outlook & Regional Housing Market Forecast that will shed some light on what's to come.

18,416
After posting 25,543 sales in 2014 and 18,830 in 2015, CREB® is predicting Calgary's resale housing market to decline slightly in 2016 to 18,416 – below the 10-year average. Sales are expected to be down 2.5 per cent in the detached sector, 1.5 per cent in attached and two per cent in apartments. According to CREB® chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie, the beginning of the year will find Calgary in a buyer's market.