Red Deer has got off to the slowest home sales start in three years.
Sales of residential units of all kinds fell 26 per cent to 92 sales last month, compared with 125 in 2022 and 100 in 2021, according to Multiple Listing Service statistics from Central Alberta Realtors Association. There were 69 sales in January 2020.
The average sales price for residential units of all kinds is also down in Red Deer last month to $283,526, compared with $312,382 in 2022, according to statistics covering the last five years. Average prices peaked in the last five years in 2021 when it was $328,081. Last year’s average sale price of $336,996 was the highest since 2015’s $338,003.
“While sales in the city have eased over the high levels seen over the past two years, activity still remains stronger than levels achieved before the pandemic,” says Alberta Real Estate Association in its monthly market trend report.
“Some of the decline can be related to the significant pullback in new listings, limiting options for purchasers in the market. The pullback in new listings relative to sales was enough to cause inventory levels to remain exceptionally low at 295 units.”
That is the lowest level of available properties to start a year since 2013.
Central Alberta-wide homes sales were similarly down, with 216 units sold, down from 316 a year earlier, 332 in 2021 and 2016 in 2020.
The average sales price in the region for residential units was $289,450, down from $333,755 and the lowest since 2019.
The fall in sales is mirrored in Alberta and national statistics.
After coming off a near-record high last year, Alberta residential sales fell 34 per cent last month to 3,411 units. The total residential average sale price fell 4.9 per cent to $420,152.
The Alberta Real Estate Association (AREA) says while sales are down activity remains stronger than pre-pandemic lows.
Slower sales have also joined by a decline in new listings, which were at their lowest level in the province since 2006.
“The pullback in new listings ultimately prevented any significant change in the inventory levels, which remained nearly 30 percent below levels traditionally seen in January,” says AREA’s monthly report.
Canada-wide sales posted their worst yearly start since 2009, falling 37 per cent from January 2022 and down three per cent from last December. Prices also fell sharply by 18.3 per cent to $612,204 from $749,437 from the same month last year.
Meanwhile, Alberta experienced the highest annual rent increase in the country in January with rents increasing 14.6 per cent. The good news is rents in the province are still generally affordable compared with other provinces. Alberta’s average one-bedroom rent averaged $1,271 compared with B.C.’s $2,163 and closely followed by Ontario’s $2,130.
Red Deer remained among the most affordable communities to rent, finishing 23rd out of 25 communities surveyed by rentals.ca and Urbanation. A one-bedroom went for $1,067 on average, up less than one per cent from a year ago. Two-bedrooms were at $1,264, up 10.8 per cent from January 2022 and three-bedrooms were $1,334, up 18.8 per cent.
Only Saskatoon and Regina had lower average rents than Red Deer. Vancouver had the highest rents of communities surveyed, followed by Burnaby and Toronto.