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Travel limits giving Sylvan Lake real estate a boost

Sylvan Lake is outperforming other Central Alberta markets in terms of transactions
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The Sylvan Lake real estate market seems to be on the mend.

Dale Russell says he is “very impressed” with the way the market has recovered, with this July being basically on par with July 2019.

Russell, a broker and owner at Remax Real Estate Central Alberta, said the central Alberta market tends to be very similar, but this year, Sylvan Lake has outperformed some of the other communities in terms of transactions.

Russell believes Sylvan Lake has done better relative to other markets, because it has become more attractive with the restrictions on travel. He says there are many people who have sold their properties in Phoenix, Ariz., and British Columbia

“You can’t go to Red Deer and buy a cottage, but you can come to Sylvan Lake and buy a cottage.”

Other smaller communities, such as Clearwater County, are doing better relative to others as well, because people are buying acreages and farms in an effort to be away from others in response to the pandemic, he said.

“Generally, in central Alberta in April, sales compared to April of last year were down 60 per cent. In May, central Alberta sales compared to last year were down 40 per cent.

“And June sales caught back up with where we were last year,” said Russell.

In April 2019, there was 21 residential sales in Sylvan Lake, compared to this year’s 20. In May, there were 28 sales compared to 2019’s 29, and June saw 30 sales last year and 26 this year.

Russell says the market favours buyers.

“Our year-to-date sales in central Alberta are still down about 20 per cent compared to last year, so the COVID did hit us,” said Russell.

“We do have to put things in perspective though, because Alberta’s obviously been hit,” Russell said. “If you want to compare, all of central Alberta sales in the first half of 2020 are down 18.4 per cent, compared to the first half of 2019.

“But they’re down 48.7 per cent compared to 2014.”