Strong Housing Market In Central Alberta

The Red Deer Real Estate Board recently released there February News release and stats for the Red Deer area. You can find it here. It goes on to state that January 2007 was a busier month for sales than January 2006, 41.69% busier. Not only were more people buying and selling this January than last but the average price of a home in Red Deer had increased 38%.

Lot’s of stats in the news release. Great if you like stats, but be careful. One of the things with stats is that newspapers can spin headlines to sell more papers. The local paper for instance used them and ran the headline “Area real estate activity jumps sharply” .

So where are we headed for 2007?

Up, I say. The demand for housing in Central Alberta is as strong in 2007 if not stronger than 2006. Unemployment and rental vacancies are at the lowest levels in ages. How does this compare to news that the Oil and Gas industry is “slowing down”. What is a “slow down”. If each of the previous 3 or 4 years have all been record breaking years and 2007 is at a 2005 pace or a little less then 2006, is that a bad thing? Probably not. It’s like a sprinter running a marathon, they can’t unless they change the pace. I think that industry as a whole in Alberta is saying we can’t keep going higher with wages, and increasing this or that. At some point you need to regroup and plan. That’s what I think is happening in Alberta in a lot of areas, we’re regrouping and looking at the future,negotiating, and setting strategy.

What do you think?

Still a great time to buy?

Absolutely, if we catch our breath in 2007, it’ll mean we can hit the ground running for 2008 and beyond right?

This post was found on Patrick Galesloot
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