It’s a great time to sell a house, say Okotoks real estate agents, who have seen a steady stream of activity through January.
TJ Hart-Anderson, of RE/MAX Prime Okotoks, said 2020 closed out a busy year for the region’s real estate market, after a slow-down during the COVID-19 shutdown of March to May.
She said early spring is typically a busy time for listings, and the ordinary boom was delayed to the fall, from September to December.
“The interesting scenario was that there was pent-up demand from inactivity in the spring combined with lack of inventory due to homeowners being unwilling to put their houses on the market during a pandemic,” said Hart-Anderson.
December ended with higher prices than seen in 2019, and fewer listings coming on the market, which created a supply-and-demand scenario.
“We had fewer houses coming on the market, less inventory, so prices were a little bit higher, and months of supply was a lot lower, which pushes it to a sellers' market,” said Hart-Anderson.
In January the situation became more pronounced, particularly in the last two weeks of the month, she said.
“The last few weeks we’ve seen multiple-offer situations, which hasn’t been seen for years in Okotoks,” said Hart Anderson, adding the last time the local market saw that kind of activity was in 2014.
In many cases around the entire Calgary region, houses that were in good condition and at the right price were coming on the market and seeing multiple offers within the first 24 hours, she said. Some realtors reported having as many as 13 offers on one home.
“Personally, just last week I had buyers who were in multiple-offer situations, but I had to complete with only one other and two others at the same time,” said Hart-Anderson.
There are a few possible reasons for the high market activity being tossed around, she said. One is the COVID-19 pandemic, and the fact being home has caused some people to re-evaluate their housing needs.
Some are finding they want more space for their children or room to homeschool, or have noticed little things about their property or neighbourhood while being home more often that have given them cause to move.
“The re-evaluation phase has kind of kicked in and they’re all anxious to get on and get a new house and get nesting during COVID, into a better place for their family,” said Hart-Anderson.
Jay Magnussen, also with RE/MAX, said he’s cautiously optimistic about the market going into 2021. While January was busy, he said he’s unsure the high activity levels will continue through the year.
“We’ll see if it stays that way and maintains itself – I’d be surprised if it did but it would be a good surprise,” said Magnussen.
He said he tends to err on the side of caution, adding it’s virtually impossible to predict what the upcoming year could hold despite statistics and economic forecasting, given the pandemic and the fact Alberta is in its sixth year of a recession.
“January was much busier than anybody anticipated, but in this crazy world we live in that could change the other way in five minutes,” said Magnussen.
However, he added business was better through the fall than he had anticipated given the spring slow-down driven by COVID. The market activity levels were lower than five to 10 years ago, but it was consistent, he said.
While it may seem like a seller’s market with low inventory and quick offers on the table, he said there are typically fewer homes on the market at this time of year anyway, and some homes are over-priced and have been on the market for some time, with people struggling to come to grips with the fact their six-year-old home is worth less than it was when they purchased.
“It’s difficult for people to wrap their head around, especially if you don’t have any earning years left,” said Magnussen. “You assess your investments to take care of you in your old age, and if your most significant is down five or eight per cent that’s a pretty big hit.”
The listing price of some homes has started climbing back up, and Anderson said the reasoning is a mystery. The Calgary Real Estate Board’s (CREB) 2021 forecast report speculated 1.2 per cent increase in pricing during the upcoming year, despite the province not showing signs of economic boom or high immigration numbers.
However, in the last three months alone the Okotoks and Foothills region saw a five per cent rise in housing prices, she said.
“Will this be sustained? I don’t know,” said Hart-Anderson.
The forecast report was drawn up ahead of January’s high activity levels, so she said there could be a change in the market that CREB did not anticipate.
Even if it does not change drastically, she said an outlook of 1.2 per cent increase in average house prices is positive.
“We’ve been struggling in Alberta for a long time, and people have been trying to get the value out of their home and sometimes they’re not able to,” said Hart-Anderson. “It’s not worth what they’ve paid for it a lot of times – especially if they bought around 2007 or 2014.”
She said some buyers may be enticed by lower mortgage rates currently available – one client was approved for 1.9 per cent in January, she said.
The number of eager buyers means people who list their houses are often receiving full days’ worth of showing requests immediately.
“It’s like a revolving door,” said Hart-Anderson. “This is generally what we’re seeing with the new ones that are coming on that are a good product and priced right.”
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