Red Deer’s residential resale market posted a strong year in 2013, with home sales numbering 1,830, up 7.2 per cent from 1,707 in 2012.
In the outlying area serviced by the Central Alberta Realtors Association, the improvement was more modest, edging up 0.8 per cent to 2,472 from 2,453.
In 2012, the year-over-year growth in Multiple Listing Service sales was 9.4 per cent in Red Deer and 11.2 per cent outside the city.
Average home prices also continued to climb in both markets in 2013.
In Red Deer the figure was $321,985, up from $310,722 in 2012 and $287,022 in 2011.
In the surrounding region, the average price last year was $268,354, as compared with $262,007 in 2012 and $233,814 in 2011.
The number of new residential listings in Red Deer processed by the Central Alberta Realtors Association last year totalled 2,738, up 5.2 per cent from 2,603 the previous year. Outside the city, new listings fell 10.6 per cent in 2013, to 4,580 from 5,124.
Despite Red Deer’s more robust market last year, the final month of 2013 produced 13.3 per cent fewer MLS sales than in the same period a year earlier — slipping to 72 from 83. Outside the city, MLS sales in December totalled 97, a 22.8 per cent jump from 798 the previous year.
The average price of Red Deer homes sold through the MLS system last month was $303,515, as compared with $283,381 in December 2012.
Elsewhere in the region, the average price dipped to $246,627 from $261,894.
The Central Alberta Realtors Association has cautioned that average prices are not a good indicator of market trends, because the types and locations of properties sold from period to period can vary.