Edmonton Market Edges Out Calgary

The only similarity between Edmonton and Calgary’s housing market is the fact that both cities are in Alberta.  

One might think the provincial Capital and its rival to the south would experience similar trends in real estate, since both centres ride the up and down oil and gas market roller coaster. But, that doesn’t seem to be the case. 

Edmonton has experienced a boom in new construction, single-family housing, and Calgary has not.  Calgary home prices are higher, while Edmonton’s are not.  Let’s examine the differences. 

New Home Starts 

In the first eight months of 2015, Edmonton new home starts were nearly double those of Calgary.  Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp (CMHC) reports that ground broke on 4,043 single-family units in the greater Edmonton area, while metropolitan Calgary saw just 2,801.  While these numbers look healthy, comparatively over the previous year, the figures are down.  The shovels were out on nearly 4,300 new home starts in Edmonton and area over a 12-month period in 2014, while Calgary and surrounding districts finished the year with nearly 4,600 starts. 

In the Works 

CMHC further breaks down stats on single-family homes currently under construction, and again Edmonton still has the lead from Jan 1. to the end of August 2015.  Just over 4,000 homes are in-progress in the Edmonton region while construction lags in the Calgary region at 2,759 single-family units currently in the building phase.  That’s a drop of 31.5 over 2014 for our neighbours to the south.  

Move-in Ready 

When it comes to turning over the keys to new home buyers, Edmonton was also ahead of Calgary in the period ending August 31, 2015.  Edmonton builders raced to complete 4,706 homes while in Calgary, new owners were ready to move in on 3,701 finished single-family units. 

Ruling Resale 

Statistics in the resale sector in both cities tell a slightly different story.  Calgary came out on top with the number of sales in this market with 8,41single-family units changing hands in the first eight months of 2015, compared to 7,623 homes in this same time period last year.  However, these numbers represent a sharp drop in the total numbers over 2014. Calgary dropped 23 per cent over last year’s figures in the resale market while Edmonton’s decline was much less at just nine per cent. 

Who had Bigger Wallets 

CMHC further reports that home buyers spent more in both the new home sector and resale markets in Calgary while Edmonton home purchasers spent, on average, significantly less.  According to CMHC’s most recent data, in the period from April 1 to June 30, 2015 the average sale price in Edmonton on newly constructed single-family homes was $570,518 while Calgary’s average sale price was quite a bit higher at $752,930.  This is based on 2,311 homes which were listed and sold versus 1,743 in Calgary.

When it comes to resale, Edmonton’s average sale price rose to $439,929 in the first eight months of the year over $432,071 in the time frame last year.  The average resale tag in Calgary fell somewhat year over year, from $554,786 in 2014 to $541,809 Jan to August 2015.