Spring is right around the corner in Canmore and with it comes three guaranteed events: 1. The days start getting longer: 2. The snow melts as the days slowly start to warm up: and 3. Buyers and Sellers of Canmore real estate start to come out of hibernation and activity starts to pick up. Spring is always the busiest time of year for sellers to list their properties for sale and this Spring is proving no different. In the last three months of 2008 we had 150 new properties listed on the resale market. So far this year, up to and including March 18th, we’ve already had 215 new properties listed on the resale market. In total, as of March 18th we have a total of 419 resale properties for sale. In our hot sellers market over the past few years the total number of listings rarely peaked over 180 properties on the market at any given time. With so much for sale, this Spring could and should, in my opinion, be the time we see Buyers moving back into the Canmore market. Prices and interest rates continue to drop, making our town of Canmore, attractive once more to investors and families looking to up-size, and government incentives for first time buyers make this market ideal for purchasing your first home in Canmore.
Canmore Real Estate can be broken down into five distinct categories: 1. Single family homes and Half Duplexes: 2. Tri-Plexes and Fourplexes: 3. Residential Condos: 4. Recreational property / hotel condos and: 5. Canmore Land for sale. There have always been very distinct markets for each category. A person looking for a Single family home or half duplex for instance would not be interested in looking at four plexes or condos - and vice versa. Canmore Recreational properties or hotel condos are classified as such due the zoning of the building by the town of Canmore. You are not permitted to live in these condos full time. The longest stay permitted in your recreational or hotel condo is 28 days at any one time. There is no limit on how many 28 day periods you can stay at the condo for in a year, but after 28 days you have to leave for at least one night - then you can return for another 28 days. The advantage of hotel condos over residential condos is the rental pool eligibility. Hotel condos allow you to generate revenue, nightly, when you are not using it and offsetting some of your monthly costs, a great option for people looking for a vacation property.
Spring typically brings out buyers in all of the above categories of Canmore Real Estate. Canmore Real Estate prices and market conditions, as I have blogged about previously, have changed significantly over the past year - and are now firmly in favour of all buyers, no matter which category you are interested in purchasing. Sales as well as median prices have fallen considerably year over year. January through March 18th 2008 saw 59 sales in Canmore with the median sale price of $620,000. Compare these numbers to this year and for the same period in 2009 we have had 29 sales with a median sale price of $525,000. This is a large drop in median price year over year and investors, first time buyers and local families wanting to stay in Canmore should be very excited at the rapid shift toward affordable Canmore real estate. Canmore needs first time buyers, we need families to stay in our community and we need true property investors to purchase real estate, all these people will help stabilize and bring balance back to our real estate market. This in turn will assist Canmore to grow at a steady and manageable rate over the coming years. The time of rapid excess building that we have seen over the past few years has come to end. Future growth in Canmore will have to be more sustainable with growth in home prices trending towards steady growth year over year. The fundamentals of our town have not changed, we are still a World Class destination for mountain activities and we will still draw people to our town. This time however, we will be able to keep them here and offer them competitive and affordable property prices that support the growth of our community.