The spring real estate market has arrived early this year with an abundance of activity and sales through February. February sales increased to 51 from 25 in January and from 34 in February 2019. The warm weather, favourable interest rates and type of product on the market, assisted in the February spike in sales.
Although the statistics show that the luxury end of the single family home market is slow, a factor skewing that statistic is that some buyers are choosing to build rather than purchase a pre-existing property, or they are waiting to buy as they are not finding worthy properties on the market. 5 new luxury builds, which statistics do not account for, have popped up in the Silvertip neighbourhood in the last few months alone.
Sales remain strong and prices continue to increase slightly in the entry level and mid-range markets. With interest rates low, we would expect that trend to continue and for general activity to remain strong.
Although the Canmore and Banff real estate market has not been affected by the Coronavirus, it’s difficult to predict if or how it could be altered. Whether we see less international buyers and more domestic buyers planning for a staycation property or investors placing their money in the real estate market versus the stock market, remains to be seen. Regardless we do expect transactions to continue as we approach spring.