BY MARIO TONEGUZZI, CALGARY HERALD NOVEMBER 29, 2011

Sales of Calgary homes in October increased compared with a year ago.

Photograph by: Ted Rhodes, Calgary Herald
CALGARY — Calgary’s resale housing market saw sales grow in October but the average price dip, according to the Conference Board of Canada.

In a report released Tuesday, the board said the seasonally-adjusted annualized rate of sales in Calgary was 22,572 during the month, up from 22,344 in September and an increase from 19,524 in October 2010.

But the average price fell in October to $402,561 from $408,466 in September. A year ago it was $396,041.

As for new listings, the annualized rate in October decreased to 43,656 from 44,664 the previous month but up from 42,960 in October 2010.

In October, the sales-to-new listings ratio in Calgary was 0.512. It was 0.471 in September and 0.455 a year ago.

The conference board said Calgary can expect short-term year-over-year annual price growth of between five and seven per cent.

According to the latest Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. market outlook report, MLS sales in the Calgary region are forecast to increase by 2.3 per cent in 2012 to 22,700 while new listings are expected to decrease by 1.1. per cent to 43,700.

The average MLS sales price is forecast to jump by 2.2 per cent in 2012 to $411,000 in the Calgary census metropolitan area.

The CMHC held its annual Calgary Housing Outlook Conference on Tuesday.

“Improvements will be reliant upon rising net migration, continued employment growth, lower new home inventories, and a more balanced resale market,” said Richard Cho, the CMHC’s senior market analyst in Calgary.

The CMHC housing market outlook says despite many positive factors for real estate “competing factors such as uncertainty in the global economy has kept some prospective buyers on the fence and will continue to temper any large increases in sales.”