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:

New program launches to help Calgary businesses with disaster resiliency

Recent tornado warnings, several thunderstorm watches and the wrath that Mother Nature has been trowing at southern Albertans as of late is reinforcing a new joint initiative from the Calgary Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) and the Calgary Chamber of Commerce that aims to help local businesses prepare for emergencies and disasters.

This summer, CEMA staff will be visiting local businesses with information about how they can make their businesses more resilient. CEMA will distribute its brochure "Is your business prepared?" with supplemental information from the Chamber.

"Whether it was the floods of 2013, the 'Snowtember' tree event, or the downtown power outage of this past year, it has become clear that all Calgary businesses need to be prepared to be resilient in case of business interruptions or disasters," said Chamber president and CEO Adam Legge.

Several big time Calgary businesses throw their support behind secondary suites

City council's inability to move forward on secondary suite reforms are sending a message to potential newcomers that Calgary is closed for business, said Chamber president and CEO Adam Legge.

"We basically have a no vacancy sign sitting over Calgary," he told a crowd of supporters at a Chamber-hosted event last week.

"So how easy do you think it is for a business to attract and retain someone to the city when they can't find a place to live?" said Legge.

Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi made his annual address at the Calgary Chamber's The State of Business in Calgary event today.

Here's some of what the mayor had to say:

On the drop in oil prices

"Yes, we're a little bit nervous about what's going forward, about what will happen but I'll remind all of you, we were also nervous at the end of 2008 and this city and this region, although we certainly had some pain, got through that better than just about everybody else in the world. And I think that that has a lot to do with the confidence and optimism of the people that live here."

Calgary Chamber comes out in support of secondary suites

The Calgary Chamber of Commerce has come out in support of secondary suites in the city – a hot-button topic that has dominated city council's agenda over the past several months.

"The Chamber, in particular, is in support of the further legalization of secondary suites because there's a strong business case to do it," said Justin Smith, director of policy, research and government relations.

"Mainly, there's a strong business case in having an affordable rental market in a city to attract new labour. and to also retain talented labour to make sure you have an affordable city overall."

Today Calgary Economic Development and Calgary Chamber held a Business Recovery Task Force Commemoration sharing stories from local businesses impacted by 2013 flooding.

Also released at the event was an Emergency Business Contact Database to help facilitate communication and collaboration between the Calgary Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) and the business community during emergencies such as natural disasters.