Interest rates, economic uncertainty impacting Calgary market

For Calgarians Matt and Vanessa Haug, the stars aligned when they decided to purchase a new home in southeast Calgary.

The couple cited low interest rates and competitive house prices behind their decision to act now rather than wait – a sentiment slowly emerging since energy-sector uncertainty took hold in Calgary's housing market late last year.

"We got 2.69 [per cent] on a five-year fixed rate. It definitely impacted our decision," said Matt, who also cited house prices behind their decision to buy and noted the lower rate did not impact how much they ultimately spent on their new home.

Keys are low vacancy rates, positive net migration

The perfect storm for long-term real estate investing in Calgary continues  to build steam despite low oil prices and fear mongering by industry  naysayers.

In fact, the six market rules Mortgage360 talks about in its Cash Flow Club meetings – which cover market vacancy rates, employment, rental rates and net migration – are still being met, even though some would have you believe the proverbial real estate sky is falling.

Calgary distinctive in offering both metropolitan and acreage luxury

Calgary's housing market has evolved to include a luxury segment offering buyers just about anything their hearts desire, suggested a local industry expert.

"We have those individuals who want to experience the city life, so that's the downtown metropolitan living," said Mary-Ann Mears, managing broker with Sotheby's International Realty Canada.

Still plenty of activity coming to Calgary's commercial sector

Dueling industry reports are challenging expectations of how active Calgary's commercial market will be this year in wake of ongoing energy sector uncertainty.

Commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield indicated in a recent study that Calgary's development cycle has "come to an end." It noted in the first quarter, the downtown office market alone experienced negative absorption of 1.2 million square feet, the largest quarterly decline in the city's history.

Increased selection for attached, apartment homes in March

Proving that selection is sometimes the best sales pitch, attached and apartment listings increased year-over-year in March from a combined 1,272 to 1,360, according to CREB®.

The increase comes as combined sales decreased by 28 per cent during the month, from 975 last year to 700 units this year.

Coupled with the fact benchmark prices in the attached apartment sector have softened more than in other sectors – dropping by 1.46 per cent compared to a 0.4 per cent decline in the detached and attached sectors – the increased selection offers prospective buyers an attractive combination.

Increased listings allow for more variety when buying in the luxury market

Gizella Davis has been through this all before.

The 38-year real estate veteran with Royal Lepage Foothills has lived through the peaks and valleys of Calgary's inherently cyclical housing market – including the most recent, which has felt the full force of a downturn in oil prices.

Yet from experience, she's "not concerned one bit" about how the industry – in particular the luxury housing segment – will react long term.

Longevity key to housing market during oil price recovery: CREB

It's still too early to tell how Calgary's resale housing market will respond to recent gains in the price of oil, said CREB® chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie.

"We have to see how long – if [oil prices] continue to move up, how much it moves up, when it stops ... That's what we're looking for. So it is still too early," she said.

After significant declines starting in October, oil prices started to see some improvements recently before another slight drop this week. West Texas Intermediate, a U.S. grade of oil used a benchmark for North American oil prices was just over $53 US a barrel this week after dropping to near $40 earlier this year and is off 43.32 per cent compared to the same time last year.

Tight market should create more buyers in 2015

The city's tight rental market is expected to spur even more Calgarians into becoming homebuyers in 2015.

Impacted by the same market forces that resulted in record home sales and rising prices in 2014, Calgary's rental housing market saw its own banner of sorts last year. With the vacancy rate amongst the lowest in Canada - between one and 1.4 per cent throughout the year – Calgary rents conversely ranked as the highest in all of Canada. According to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC), monthly rents for a two-bedroom unit increased by 5.9 per cent over the $1,224 seen in October of 2013 to $1,322 in 2014.