Real estate in Calgary - another bubble?

[Esoteric]

I will say don't buy a townhome attached to a condo building. Your fees are going to be crazy high.

I'm not sure what to do with the high prices right now. The wife and I wanted to move out of our 1 bedroom condo, but we're going to have to sell that, then try and buy a home in this nonsense.

I'm thinking it might make sense to look at selling the condo first, then looking at renting, and trying to time a home purchase once the rental is up.

[CarlLester]

Originally Posted by you&me

A builder we've been talking to lately is saying 8-9 months once permits are in place... This is for a custom build on a redevelopment lot. As far as delays, he says the actual construction isn't as much of an issue as some finnish materials, appliances, etc.

Can confirm. In the middle of a full reno right now. If all plays out without major hiccups, I am looking at 6-7 months to complete.

Longest lead items for us have been appliances (if current ETA date holds, it will be 9+ months from order date to delivery) and windows (if current ETA date holds it will be about 5 months from order date to delivery)

[keenan87]

Originally Posted by Esoteric

I will say don't buy a townhome attached to a condo building. Your fees are going to be crazy high.

I'm not sure what to do with the high prices right now. The wife and I wanted to move out of our 1 bedroom condo, but we're going to have to sell that, then try and buy a home in this nonsense.

I'm thinking it might make sense to look at selling the condo first, then looking at renting, and trying to time a home purchase once the rental is up.

That is exactly what I am currently doing and have listed my condo. Losing money on the condo - but I am not sure what else to do at this point. It just doesn't seem like condo prices are going to increase anytime soon - or maybe? (fyi - my condo is inner city by Marda Loop)

[blankall]

Are people still losing money on the condos even after accounting for the built up equity, from paying down the mortage? You're pulling less out than you put in, or just selling below what you paid?

[rain_e]

Wait people are selling condos at a loss to chase the home prices?

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by blankall

Are people still losing money on the condos even after accounting for the built up equity, from paying down the mortage? You're pulling less out than you put in, or just selling below what you paid?

You buy for 400,000 sell for 350,000 you’re going to lose money one way or the other.

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by Esoteric

I will say don't buy a townhome attached to a condo building. Your fees are going to be crazy high.

I'm not sure what to do with the high prices right now. The wife and I wanted to move out of our 1 bedroom condo, but we're going to have to sell that, then try and buy a home in this nonsense.

I'm thinking it might make sense to look at selling the condo first, then looking at renting, and trying to time a home purchase once the rental is up.

Man, I feel for you. Condo prices have still been depressed throughout all this, while houses and townhouses have been going up. That's like the worst of both worlds for you right now.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by Weitz

You buy for 400,000 sell for 350,000 you’re going to lose money one way or the other.

Guess it depends on things like the length of your amortization. However, theoretically, if you've held for 10 years, you would have paid off $115ish on the principle.

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by blankall

Guess it depends on things like the length of your amortization. However, theoretically, if you've held for 10 years, you would have paid off $115ish on the principle.

Sure, but you're still losing part of your money if you've bought at $400K and sold at $350K. Just because you built up the equity to cover for the $50K loss doesn't make it sting any less.

[Esoteric]

Yeah, it's going to sting for sure.

I bought my condo in 2012 for $285K, and the most recent comparable sale in our building sold for less than $220K. Even with a slight rebound from that price, I'm still going to be losing money and will be lucky to walk out not owing anything on the mortgage.

However, there were other people that bought into the building in 2014 at the height of the Calgary Condo market for $380K, so I feel even worse for them.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by Esoteric

Yeah, it's going to sting for sure.

I bought my condo in 2012 for $285K, and the most recent comparable sale in our building sold for less than $220K. Even with a slight rebound from that price, I'm still going to be losing money and will be lucky to walk out not owing anything on the mortgage.

However, there were other people that bought into the building in 2014 at the height of the Calgary Condo market for $380K, so I feel even worse for them.

I didn't realize price drops were that extreme. Yeah, definitely feel bad for anyone in that situation.

[photon]

Yeah talking to our realtor our condo would sell now for over 30% less than what a bank appraised it for when the market was hot (and we considered selling around that time, the realtor figured we could get around that much too). We get 35%+ less rent now too.

[flamesfan1297]

This thread makes me really happy that I opted too purchase a freehold townhouse rather than a Condo. I'm sure I'll still feel the pinch when I go too sell but hopefully not having condo fees will really help

[Gundo]

Originally Posted by you&me

Are you confident in the builder completing your new home on schedule? With how things are these days, I'd want to have a lot of latitude with possession dates.

The market is so ridiculous at the moment that we will be going to market listing our home $100,000 above our “comfortable sell price”. That was the price my wife and I set as our realistic selling based on market comps about a year ago when we were starting to get serious about building.

We are not in a hurry to sell and will shoot for the stars and if we get our price we are prepared to rent a home/condo for 12 months even though we will only need one for about 6-8 months until our build is complete.

Originally Posted by moncton golden flames

A builder will also come back to you and say this home costs 40k more, pay up or lose it.

Not entirely true, we are in the process right now and if your building with a reputable builder this is highly unlikely. We specifically had our realtor ask amd review our purchase agreement for this reason.

We have been finding that as supply chain becomes affects some of our choices higher grade or “levels” are being substituted in at no charge. For example we picked a level 4 flooring which has since become unavailable for our homes timeline they allowed us to pick a level 5 or 6 comparable product in its place. The flooring we decided on would have otherwise been an additional $1.65 sqft but was subbed in at the same cost.

[Gundo]

*edit*

Double post

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Acey

I have a bit of inheritance money and I'm in the market for a 2 bedroom condo. Is now a good time in north Calgary or Airdrie?

Not investment advice, but I think this is probably a good time to buy a condo.

The price of single detached has gone up significantly. That is absolutely going to start pushing people who can't afford houses into condos instead (increasing demand). It is also going to start pricing people out of upgrading from a condo to a SFH (reducing supply).

Relatively speaking it's probably better timing for a condo than a SFH - one of these is up big recently and one isn't. On average a SFH is probably better for appreciation over the long run, because more of the value is land (which appreciates) vs building (which generally doesn't). But SFH just got a big slug of appreciation in one go - so it doesn't seem unreasonable to expect condos to catch up a bit.

Especially if that is your preferred option for price/lifestyle options, this could end up being a pretty good time to buy.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

Not investment advice, but I think this is probably a good time to buy a condo.

The price of single detached has gone up significantly. That is absolutely going to start pushing people who can't afford houses into condos instead (increasing demand). It is also going to start pricing people out of upgrading from a condo to a SFH (reducing supply).

Relatively speaking it's probably better timing for a condo than a SFH - one of these is up big recently and one isn't. On average a SFH is probably better for appreciation over the long run, because more of the value is land (which appreciates) vs building (which generally doesn't). But SFH just got a big slug of appreciation in one go - so it doesn't seem unreasonable to expect condos to catch up a bit.

Especially if that is your preferred option for price/lifestyle options, this could end up being a pretty good time to buy.

In other cities the price rises have worked their way down from detected houses to condos. As people get priced out of detached they go to attached then to smaller and smaller condos.

Calgary has a lot more land but can't get anything built right now. The X factor is what happens when construction finally catches up....I have no idea. Intuitively it seems like condos would be a good idea, but lots of horror stories here too. If you have cash and want to avoid inflation, might not be a bad idea, assuming condos do increase with inflation. Even in Vancouver is taken a while for condos to heat up, as that's just happening now.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by blankall

In other cities the price rises have worked their way down from detected houses to condos. As people get priced out of detached they go to attached then to smaller and smaller condos.

Calgary has a lot more land but can't get anything built right now. The X factor is what happens when construction finally catches up....I have no idea. Intuitively it seems like condos would be a good idea, but lots of horror stories here too. If you have cash and want to avoid inflation, might not be a bad idea, assuming condos do increase with inflation. Even in Vancouver is taken a while for condos to heat up, as that's just happening now.

Huh? If anything, Calgary has an oversupply of condos right now with more towers expecting completion soon. Old condos get screwed by new condos because new and lower condo fees.


Some people hurting in the range of 15-30% on condos and townhouses isn't uncommon. I wonder if they 10% down and paid minimum, but I know some people who can't pay off their mortgage and realtor if they sold their condo now. So they just keep it as a rental and hope to break even on a mortgage payout in a few years. I'm going to be really happy if I can keep my losses less than 10% this summer.

[Mass_nerder]

Originally Posted by blankall

Are people still losing money on the condos even after accounting for the built up equity, from paying down the mortage? You're pulling less out than you put in, or just selling below what you paid?

I bought a place for 265,000 12 years ago. I tried to sell in the summer of 2019 (was moving) for $205,000 and couldn't. My realtor told me I could have unloaded it if I was willing to drop down to $185,000.
After realtor fees, early mortgage exit penalty, difference between what I owe vs. sale price, I would have had to pay between $15,000-$20,000 to sell.

[AC]

Originally Posted by Flabbibulin

Probably a tricky question, but anyone know what most builders are saying right for build times?

My wife and I just signed and our estimated possession date is mid October - early November.