May 2023 Canmore Real Estate News
Month over month, residential and short-term rental use sales rose in April in Canmore and the Bow Valley. With the spring real estate market upon us, there are more properties coming to market however many are being sold and absorbed by the market quickly.
Heading into May, month over month active listings for both residential and short-term rental use have declined. Looking at the past decade, this is the first time we have seen a decline in overall listings from April to May. Currently, there are 90 residential properties for sale between the Banff east gate and the front range; the five-year average for May is 135. The absorption rate (the number of active listings divided by the number of sales) for residential properties is at 3.3 months of inventory; a number we would consider a seller’s market. This is similar to the spring market of 2019 which had 3.4 months of inventory. May of 2020 had 18.6 months of inventory, while 2021 had 1.3 and 2022 1.6.
Short term rental use inventories are down year over year to 42 active listings; the five-year average is 39 for May. Sales declined year over year to 14 while the five-year average is 18. Prices for short term rental properties are off their peak of early 2022 and seem to have plateaued over the past few months.
For detached and semi-detached homes, both the average and median sale prices for April are similar to April 2022. However, remembering that with the low monthly number of sales, these number can fluctuate by $100,000s each month. Longer term price growth has been significant with the average prices rising drastically since 2019.
We continue to see buyers from the driving distance markets of Calgary and Edmonton; driven by Alberta’s strong economic conditions and desire for secondary markets; the GTA and Ottawa markets; and the Lower Mainland and Southern Vancouver Island markets. With nearly 3,000,000 expat Canadians who are not affected by the temporary foreign buyer ban, we also continue to see strong buyer interest from Canadian in international markets.
