October 8, 2024
As we move through October, we are reminded why fall is one of the best times of year to enjoy the Bow Valley. With the larch trees going vibrant yellow it gives (or makes) going out for a walk/hike or bike ride a special event. The real estate market continues to be quite steady with a gentle rise in the number of listings on the market while sales are staying quite steady.
To expand on the comments above we have seen the listing inventory rise each month starting in March with an average increase of 7% per month. Our inventory on October 1st this year is 21% higher than October 2023 yet 22% lower than the average listing inventory in October over the last 10 years. What does this mean? It looks like our market is very slowly moving closer to a balanced market but expectations are that we will move back to a sellers market before we reach what we would call a balanced market.
We prefer to comment on the quarterly sales numbers as they historically give us more accurate data with a larger sample size.(Even better than quarterly is the yearly review which we will send out in January 2025) For average sales prices we have seen each market segment rise throughout 2024 to date with the exception of townhomes which rose through the second quarter but fell to very similar levels of the first quarter in this past third quarter. With the slight increase in inventory some buyers are feeling less urgency to act quickly which has resulted in missing out on the property they would like in some instances and price reductions in others. We are definitely seeing more polarization of some sellers that are not as motivated and hence more comfortable to wait for the right buyer while others that are less patient targeting the current market price with their property.
The days on market for sold properties is staying quite consistent since 2022 and much less than pre pandemic levels. Lastly, the MOI (Months of Inventory is a calculation on the numbers of months it would take to sell all the currently listings with no new inventory coming to Market based on number of past sales) has been quite steady this year and is on the sellers market side of a balanced market with 4 MOI this month and an average of 3.23 MOI for 2024 (note that a balanced market is typically around 6 months of inventory although we often use 4-6)
With the Banff Mountain Film Festival arriving at the end of October, we are all getting excited about the start of ski/snowboard season. We never forget how lucky we are to live in the mountain paradise where we get to trade our bikes, hikers and running shoes for downhill/cross country ski's, snowboards, toboggans and snowshoes. Weather dependent we expect to see frozen thunder open at the Canmore Nordic Centre later this month with the ski hills opening shortly thereafter (see the links below for latest opening dates).
Frozen Thunder - https://www.albertaparks.ca/parks/kananaskis/canmore-nordic-centre-pp/activities/cross-country-skiing/frozen-thunder/
Lake Louise - https://www.skilouise.com/
Sunshine Village - https://www.skibanff.com/
Banff Norquay - https://banffnorquay.com/winter/
We are thrilled to announce our annual food drive will take place on December 4th this year. This event truly exemplifies the saying, 'it takes a village.'
Every year, a dedicated team of volunteers from our brokerage and the Canmore community takes on the significant task of knocking on every door in town to collect non-perishable food items for the Bow Valley Food Bank.
We love involving the entire community, whether through donations or volunteering. We look forward to seeing you all at the event.
Stay updated by checking our website, social media channels, and this newsletter in the coming months for more details and volunteer opportunities.
Want to know about upcoming events in the Bow Valley CLICK HERE