As the calendar moves through April, we are seeing the snow in the mountains start to melt making way for some great walking/hiking and biking while the skiing is winding down. There is nothing quite like enjoying the longer days with blue skies and beautiful snow-covered peaks, it reminds us all every day why we love living here.
The first quarter of 2022 was very strong with a total sales volume of 64% more than the past 4 pre-pandemic first quarters.It was however 37% less than the all-time record sales volume ofQ1 2021 but this is very likely driven more by the lack of supply than a lack of buyers.
Over the last 5 months, we have seen an average total number of listings in Canmore at 77 compared to the average active listings since we started keeping statistics at 240. The highest active listing count was over 500 and the lowest was a tie between January and February of this year at 56.
When we look at other metrics such as "List to Sales Ratio" along with "Months of Inventory", we continue to see the same trend.
With "List to Sales Ratio", we can track the percentage of the asking price to that of the sale price.In 2022 all months are above 100% which has only ever happened in one other month since we have been tracking the data.
The average "List-to-Sales Ratio" for the first quarter of 2022 is 102.08%.
"Months of Inventory" is how many months of the current sales activity would it take to sell all the existing inventory as of the 1st of the month. We typically see numbers around 3 to 6 months of inventory as being a balanced market with numbers higher than 6 months being a buyer’s market and lower than 3 months of inventory being a seller’s market. Our current months of inventory is 1.19.
As you will see in the following graphs our average prices have been steadily increasing in all categories (except lots which is due to such a small sample size) and we do expect to see this continue until our supply increases.
We have also been hearing of solid numbers coming in from the short-term rental complexes which indicate more people are starting to travel and take in everything Canmore and Banff have to offer.
The Bank of Canada has raised its key interest rate by the highest amount in more than 20 years and warns that more rate hikes are coming.
Securing a pre-approval from your lender will provide you with the current interest rate and protect you against further rate hikes for the duration of your pre-approval.
Please let me know if you would like more information on securing a pre-approval.