Is 2015 the year to buy a house in Calgary??

B00Mer

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Slumping oil prices to hit home prices in Calgary in 2015: Re/Max



TORONTO — Slumping oil prices are likely to impact Calgary’s real estate market in the coming year, causing home prices to slow their rapid acceleration in Alberta’s largest city, according to a report by realtor group Re/Max.

The average sale price of a Calgary home is expected to rise by only three per cent in 2015 to $497,500 after shooting up six per cent in 2014, as more buyers are expected to sit on the sidelines to see if the recent slump in oil prices will make houses cheaper.

“Calgary had a significant run-up over the last few years, so it’s becoming more of a balanced market as opposed to a slowing down of the market per se,” said Gurinder Sandhu, executive vice-president, Re/Max Ontario Atlantic.

A booming oil sector has helped drive immigration to the city in recent years, fuelling demand for homes. However, crude oil prices have tumbled roughly 35 per cent from their mid-summer highs due to a strong U.S. dollar, weaker demand and a glut of global supply.

The decline in oil prices has already caused Calgary’s real estate market to become less “red hot,” said Sandhu. But unless low oil prices persist for a prolonged period, home prices in Calgary are unlikely to decline.

“It would have to be a sustained, long-term depression of oil prices to the point where it would have to start impacting jobs and the overall economy, and we’re not anticipating that for 2015,” he said.

Meanwhile, higher inventory levels in many cities, and in some places a switch to more affordable condominiums, are among factors expected to contribute to significantly smaller price increases across Canada next year, with average prices anticipated to rise a modest 2.5 per cent nationally in 2015 compared with a 6.2 per cent increase in 2014.

Even the hot markets of Vancouver and Toronto are expected to see a significant slowing in price increases, with the average residential sale price set to climb just three per cent in the Great Vancouver area to $863,600 from $834,400 in 2014 when prices went up 7.3 per cent.

Likewise, the Greater Toronto Area is forecast to see a four per cent price increase to an average of $589,100, compared with an 8.3 per cent increase in 2014 to $566,400.

But immigration to major Canadian cities will continue to fuel demand for housing and offset the impact of rising interest rates, which are expected to increase in late 2015, Sandhu said.

“We’re not expecting any dramatic change in housing (prices),” said Sandhu. “We’re expecting some moderation, probably a little more balancing out of the housing market.”

Elsewhere across the country, price increase are expected to be below the national average in most cities in Atlantic Canada, with the exception of Moncton, N.B., where the average sale price is forecast to rise six per cent to $187,500.

Average prices in Montreal are forecast to rise one per cent to $332,600 and by 1.5 per cent in Quebec City to $289,800, while prices in Winnipeg and Saskatoon are forecast to remain static at $285,800 and $333,900 respectively, according to the Re/Max outlook.

Regina is expected to see the average price rise four per cent to $346,500, with a similar percentage increase to $389,000 in Edmonton.

Kelowna, B.C., is expected to experience the biggest percentage increase in prices in 2015 among larger Canadian centres, up seven per cent to $458,000 on top of a 7.8 per cent increase in 2014.

source: Slumping oil prices to hit home prices in Calgary in 2015: Re/Max | Financial Post

Source with VIDEO : Calgary real estate will feel oil pinch in 2015: report | CTV News
 

MHz

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Mar 16, 2007
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Buy 2, or even 3, especially in the picturesque river valley, not a floor plain, a valley, so close to the picture you can even hear the water.

That is actually one angle I never considered. When was the first mini Alberta only boom, 1980?? It was the years oil exploration was booming and that is the first to get shut down when the prices change. In the new areas the wells that were drilled first were the one the furthest away from the main haul road. The incentives paid for the road and the oil companies (or logging) did the branch roads on the way out. The boom lasted until those first wells were drilled and then the party was over and 90% of the companies were out of work and many thought the boom would go on so they bought big and lost it all. People were camped in the parks and unemployment was at -5% and there was a line-up at the bars by 10:30 AM. Since everything was way overpriced there was a big reset and anybody with money had a blast, all the heavy equipment went to auction and the ones that bought it moved to where the next contracts were opening up. It would work out for buyers to see a $500k property drop to $125 but even then a mortgage is risky if a bank flops. Rent out 10 cots at $500/mo and it gets paid off in no time. (might I suggest some out of work oil patchers rather than a variety of ethnic minorities in your case)

Go big, buy the tower as your private abode. (then do so Tesla like like decoration in-door and out, think the neighbors would talk?)
You could always buy an industrial bay and hire yourself on as the night watchman. (nice office and security equipment is hugely tax deductible, including that new ride)
 
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B00Mer

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I'm not sure why anyone would pay $480,000 for a home that is squeezed so close to your neighbor..



There is really nothing offered other than cold winters, windy summers, lousy drivers and a city that looks like a huge slum or ghetto.

It's quickly becoming a runner up to Winnipeg, another ghetto Canadian city.



No this is not Detroit, it's Winnipeg, MN, Canada.
 

Nuggler

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Feb 27, 2006
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I'm not sure why anyone would pay $480,000 for a home that is squeezed so close to your neighbor..



There is really nothing offered other than cold winters, windy summers, lousy drivers and a city that looks like a huge slum or ghetto.

It's quickly becoming a runner up to Winnipeg, another ghetto Canadian city.



No this is not Detroit, it's Winnipeg, MN, Canada.

Those houses are tiny but there`s nothing wrong with that. Not too up to date on maintenance; who is

But, looking down the street I don`t see too many (none in fact), boarded up.

A far cry from Detroit.

You have a solution to the tiny, not up to date, house problem.............Didn`t think so.
 

B00Mer

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You have a solution to the tiny, not up to date, house problem.............Didn`t think so.

Yes, I do. It's called eminent domain, tear them down and build condos or new developments..

Here is an example of a Fargo, ND housing development..



Lots of space, big yards.. space. A real housing development.. Not the Calgary shoe box with 2 feet between the houses.
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
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I'm not sure why anyone would pay $480,000 for a home that is squeezed so close to your neighbor..



There is really nothing offered other than cold winters, windy summers, lousy drivers and a city that looks like a huge slum or ghetto.

It's quickly becoming a runner up to Winnipeg, another ghetto Canadian city.



No this is not Detroit, it's Winnipeg, MN, Canada.

That's what happens when the keepers of the earth move into a neighborhood. The two neighborhoods in the photos were built at the same time.
 

MHz

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A far cry from Detroit.
You have a solution to the tiny, not up to date, house problem.............Didn`t think so.
If a city has homeless and boarded up houses then the solution is looking them in the eye. Getting it so a city inspector (knows all the rules and safety codes) and the various buildings have some used as 'parts' and others as the receiver building because they are 'safe'. If word got out that the homeless were making welfare look like torture then, . . . it would become trendy to have a Hobo card which entitles you to 'scrounge'. So trendy and cost saving the Gov would panic if unemployment dropped below 25%. The biggest reason it won't happen, community and rooftop gardens would show that a local population can produce more than 80% of the food it needs, how about 40%, right now it is zero and the Gov is determined to keep it that way.

The row housing would be better off putting in porches between the two houses as that is only 8 ft anyway and then you have a 3 story space, the bottom one could be the swimming pool with a bbq level above that and finally a sun-room on the top that gave access to the solar panels and sun room with panels at an angle that shed winter snow.

That is what one developer should do to a row that is reaching the age where it needs a new roof as that gives you the right to ask for a lot of repair permits. Since rows aren't vacant the developer could go in and hold a meeting and offer to buy then at there at market value or if the owners wanted stay the renos would still be done by the developer and the change in value of the property would be the part that stays in the developers name in case the property sells.

Part of the reno would be emergency systems and solar was already mentioned but a plugin for propane would be handy whether it is the 25lb bbq bottle or 2,000lb on 4 wheels in the parking lot the transfer is the same, that is hot water and most forced air furnaces.
Older places aren't that similar so each place would need to be done and even then the supports are below code so they end up being dismantled. If a brand new site replaces it then you need people with jobs to be the buyers and this kind of construction is tendered out and the subdivision is planned to be a single unit from the start where it might end up selling power rather than being just a consumer and the whole structure is set to shed heavy snow, be hail resistant. It could include heated sidewalks so when it snows no shoveling and the water flows to the streets that are sloped to the center of the road rather than being crowned and needing two drains. (residents can pull a few tires around in the winter to fill in the ruts and then no ruts or pot-holes and the snow get piled in the middle of the road and since it is the low spot it can take a lot of snow, after it is full then the lawns get the snow or it is hauled away.

The money maker in Calgary would be to go through all the insurance claims from the last flood and find out which ones barely made it through the repair phase rather than destroy. Since this is the older part of town very few had basements and if they got flooded out they shouldn't have basements for anything other than tornado shelters. The restored house would be at 2014 code and still be structurally sound for it's time. There will be more floods and the odds are it would not survive another one. By now anybody with a building there would know it is a flood zone so insurance policies would state overland floods as wells as rain would be covered, right now you cannot get flood insurance for 'overland water'. The solution is to make the structure float, pontoons under the house at ground level could also act as underground shelter in wind storms but be sealed so the float the whole house as the water comes overland. A post drilled deep and just upstream is what the structure would be cabled to so it rose straight up and comes straight down when the flood ends. The post also aligns debris coming down with the flood so it goes between the pontoons rather than jamming up. That floating ability shoud end the flood insurance issue as you don'y need it so preminums should reflect that as even contents are safe from overland floods. (a vacume truck would be needed to clean out the trenches after the flood) If you did that and maxed out the interior and has 20 such properties how much would they rent for taking location, location, location into account. (nobody will build on land where the places were destroyed so there should be lots of parks around and that area is great for those and a bike ride to the heart of downtown)

The two neighborhoods in the photos were built at the same time.
Bike lane and two sidewalks, where's the parade? How about, take the powerlines and wind and rain proof them by putting then underground just on the property off where the sidewalks are and then grade it in a line from the sidewalks to thew center of the street and now you have car parking next to the property in the summer and the people can use the center of the road for bikes and walking and in the winter that is where the snow goes. Might I suggest some low grade tar-sand material for the re-contour.

Would this look out of place in a trailer park?


MACGREGOR 70

Head of the Hope Dam in the summers and take in the 270 mile long lake in the Wolverine Mountains. Needs a high-speed winch to launch hand-gliders from 1/4 behind the boat as there are many side canyons that have never been explored.
 
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Cannuck

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Feb 2, 2006
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A far cry from Detroit.

Comparing any Canadian city to Detroit is silly enough but a western Canadian city? That's ridiculous.

I wouldn't live in Edmonton or Calgary. You can get more real estate for the dollar spent anywhere else in the province and have a far better quality of life.
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
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Comparing any Canadian city to Detroit is silly enough but a western Canadian city? That's ridiculous.

I wouldn't live in Edmonton or Calgary. You can get more real estate for the dollar spent anywhere else in the province and have a far better quality of life....
....in the desert.

WTF???
 

B00Mer

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Sep 6, 2008
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Comparing any Canadian city to Detroit is silly enough but a western Canadian city? That's ridiculous.

I wouldn't live in Edmonton or Calgary. You can get more real estate for the dollar spent anywhere else in the province and have a far better quality of life.

Yeah, like Ontario has it much better... (Windsor, Ontario)







Homeowners surrounded by Indian Road ‘slum’ file lawsuit against bridge company | Windsor Star

That's a Liberal Economy, debt and abandon boarded up homes.. guess they ran out of everyone else's money in Ontario.

and Alberta is more than just Calgary, Edmonton and Medicine Hat.

It was as stupid a comment as Boomers concerning Calgary.

Yes, Canmore has some beautiful property, with a yard, space, trees, and mountains..



...and many other parts of Alberta are very beautiful.

I just personally think Calgary is the A$$HOLE of Alberta.
 

Cannuck

Time Out
Feb 2, 2006
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Re: Is 2015 the year to buy a ouse in Calgary??

Medicine Hat is as dry as a popcorn fart.

Yup, that's what makes it such a great place to live. Sunniest spot in Canada, zero humidity and a well developed irrigation system makes it lush in the summer time and real estate half the cost of Calgary (and even cheaper if you want to live in the surrounding towns. Couldn't ask for a nicer place to live in Alberta than the southeast.