The Canmore real estate market is shifting from an extreme seller’s market to a seller’s market with 2.1 months of active inventory. May saw a decrease in monthly sales from April with 87 sales, down from 109 in April. Year over year sales for May were up 211% from 28 in May 2020. Active listings have increased to 182 listings a 32% increase month over month; however, we are still 35% below active listings at this time last year.
While sales have decreased, of note is that the average days on market for sales are setting record lows. The average days on market for a detached / semi-detached home in May was 38 days; compared to 52 in May 2020, 54 in May 2019 and 108 in May 2018. This means that homes that are well priced and in good condition are selling quickly. The average days on market for townhomes in May was only 24 days. Generally speaking, a condition period is about two weeks, so properties are getting offers within the first few days of coming to market.
As a buyer, this may be the opportunity that if a home has been on the market more than a week, for you to be able to negotiate on price, terms and conditions.
The average price for detached / semi-detached homes was $1,563,000 and the median sale price was $1,379,000 in May. The average price for townhomes dropped in May, however this was a result of the type of properties that were selling, smaller entry level townhomes.
The rise in listings is a combination of the seasonality of the market where we would typically expect to see a rise in inventory, sellers taking advantage of the strong market, sellers feeling more confident about a move as pandemic restrictions ease and the slight easing of sales volume. We are still well below the active inventory levels we had last fall when we topped out at 323 active listings in September 2020. The 10 year average for May sales is 50 MLS transactions, this May was the strongest May on record and 74% above the 10 year average with 87 sales. We may be seeing a bit of buyer fatigue in certain segments of the market as prices have increased significantly over the past few months and there remains very low inventory. The other note on the decrease in sales was the additional restrictions that were brought in during the third wave of the pandemic. As travel restrictions ease and we see the reopening of the US border, we expect to see sales remain steady through the summer months.
