BY MARIO TONEGUZZI, CALGARY HERALD APRIL 15, 2011

Calgary residential MLS sales have fallen in the first quarter of this year compared with a year ago.

CALGARY — The average MLS sale price of a residential property in Calgary has increased slightly so far this year compared with 2010.

The Canadian Real Estate Association reported Friday that year-to-date, for the first quarter of 2011, the average residential price was $398,558, up one per cent compared with the first quarter of 2010.

At the national level, the average sale price for the quarter was $362,997, up 7.9 per cent from last year.

In Calgary, sales during the first quarter totalled 5,492 transactions, a decrease of 4.6 per cent from last year while sales across Canada dipped by 6.4 per cent to 103,906.

For the month of March, Calgary sales of 2,273 were down 7.1 per cent from March 2010 and the average sale price dipped by 1.7 per cent to $398,836 compared with last year.

Nationally, sales for March were down 6.6 per cent from last year to 45,960 but the average sale price was up 8.9 per cent to $371,286.