Calgary real estate market seeing drop in house sales, increase in inventory

Calgary real estate is continuing on a trend the city has not seen in years: a dramatic drop in house sales.

The drop in sales has led to a growing inventory in Calgary's housing market. The combination of the two is making for some uncertainty among consumers.

"Things are a little bit slower right now, a lot of the buyers are sitting on the fence," said Remax realtor Sam Patel.

The Calgary Real Estate Board says there were 1,217 home sales in February, down 34 per cent compared to the same month last year.

The average price fell by four per cent to $462,000.

Ann-Marie Lurie, a senior economist with CREB, says the drop in home sales is in part due to the uncertainty about what is going to happen to the market in the future.

"The consumer confidence, we think, is impacting the amount of sales activity that's why you're seeing a lot less sales occur in the market," she said.

Patel says while some of his clients are taking the wait-and-see approach, others are taking advantage of the wider selection and slightly lower house prices.

Lurie says it's too early to characterize this as a "buyer's market," even though the number of properties up for sale has more than doubled from this time last year.