The latest sales figures from the Calgary Real Estate board are out for July 1-21, and they support my  opinion that sales are in a real funk. Single family sales for Calgary Homes are 55% of 2009 numbers, while Calgary Condominium sales are at  only 62% of last year’s numbers. The good news? Read on, there’s always a silver lining.With inventory much higher than last year, and sales off, the opportunities for buyers hasn’t been this good for some time. It won’t last, it never does. The recent strong activity in Calgary Luxury Home  sales points to a confidence in higher end buyers that we are slowly coming out of this slump. Once first time buyers and move-up buyers figure this out, this inventory will be gone. Interest rates will not be going lower in the foreseeable future, so buying now in the Calgary Home market, when prices are soft and you can still get a great rate at under 5% seems to make sense, especially if you were only waiting to see what happened to the market.

Here are is the latest chart from CREB, including surrounding communities, and acreage sales information as well:

2010

2009

Calgary Metro – Single Family

Sales

573

1,031

New Listings

1,311

1,397

Inventory

5,790

3,397

Sales to New

44%

74%

Sales to Inv

10%

30%

Calgary Metro – Condominium

Sales

272

437

New Listings

618

606

Inventory

2,591

1,690

Sales to New

44%

72%

Sales to Inv

10%

26%

Towns (Outside Calgary)

Sales

188

276

New Listings

504

614

Inventory

3,077

2,667

Sales to New

37%

45%

Sales to Inv

6%

10%

Country Residential – Acreages

Sales

30

49

New Listings

169

135

Inventory

1,206

919

Sales to New

18%

36%

Sales to Inv

2%

5%

Total MLS®

Sales

1,085

1,807

New Listings

2,715

2,840

Inventory

13,397

8,673

Sales to New

40%

64%

Sales to Inv

8%

21%

SP >= LP

38

166

Avg. $ Ovr LP

1,915

4,808

Max. $ Ovr LP

33,100

80,000

SP = LP

15

66

% of SP to LP

96.32%

96.88%