Real estate in Calgary - another bubble?

[Hockeyguy15]

These prices are crazy. I was joking with my wife that we should just sell our place and rent for the rest of our lives.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Hockeyguy15

These prices are crazy. I was joking with my wife that we should just sell our place and rent for the rest of our lives.

That's so crazy it just might work.

[Hockeyguy15]

Originally Posted by Sliver

That's so crazy it just might work.

For some people it could be an ok move depending where they are in life.

I don't think this is going to be a short lived increase though, so once you sell you're going to pay a lot to get back in, or you are going to be renting for a long time. Long term renting kind of scares me too, I'm not a fan of being that reliant on someone else.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by Hockeyguy15

These prices are crazy. I was joking with my wife that we should just sell our place and rent for the rest of our lives.

Rent will rise more than real estate prices. If you're downsizing to a condo, now could be a good time though.

[Hockeyguy15]

Originally Posted by blankall

Rent will rise more than real estate prices.

Will they? I haven't looked at rent prices for close to 20 years which is why it was just an off the cuff joke.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by blankall

Rent will rise more than real estate prices. If you're downsizing to a condo, now could be a good time though.

I don't think its true rents will rise more than prices in a continued boom situation. That hasn't been true in other cities that have boomed.

For example, renting a 1br in Vancouver is 74% more expensive than renting one in Calgary (per:
https://blog.padmapper.com/2021/06/1...n-rent-report/ )

Whereas the price for owned condos is about 3x as high per
https://blog.remax.ca/canadian-real-...inium-trends/#

So if Calgary turned into Vancouver after a decade or two of unabashed real estate boom you could expect prices to triple while rents didn't even double.

I don't think selling and renting is a bad idea from an economic point of view. It adds some lifestyle risk though (might have to move more often, can't control maintenance/decor/renovations)

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

I don't think its true rents will rise more than prices in a continued boom situation. That hasn't been true in other cities that have boomed.

For example, renting a 1br in Vancouver is 74% more expensive than renting one in Calgary (per:
https://blog.padmapper.com/2021/06/1...n-rent-report/ )

Whereas the price for owned condos is about 3x as high per
https://blog.remax.ca/canadian-real-...inium-trends/#

So if Calgary turned into Vancouver after a decade or two of unabashed real estate boom you could expect prices to triple while rents didn't even double.

I don't think selling and renting is a bad idea from an economic point of view. It adds some lifestyle risk though (might have to move more often, can't control maintenance/decor/renovations)

BC has rent control though so it is harder to compare.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Tons of places going on the market in the past week, looks like a lot of people trying to ride this selling wave. Wonder if that will affect prices at all

[you&me]

I have a saved search on Realtor.ca that I check every few days as a casual observer... For as long as I can remember, there'd be 2-4 new listings a day.

Lately, I'm seeing 10+ listings every day and quite often I recognize them from being listed previously, so there's definitely a lot of people looking at this as an opportunity to (finally) move on.

[#-3]

I think for ~25-30% above assessment, I would just walk away from my house without a thought, live in the in-laws basement for 6 months and make a bet that 6 months from now the cash will be more valuable to me than the house.

Anyone interested?

[SofaProfessor]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

Tons of places going on the market in the past week, looks like a lot of people trying to ride this selling wave. Wonder if that will affect prices at all

Personally, as someone who sold two weeks ago and is currently looking, I don't think it will necessarily pull back prices but I think it's going to provide some better price clarity. A lot of the new listings I've been seeing are pricing reasonably in my opinion and they are clustered pretty close together. A couple weeks ago, you would see these huge gaps between listing prices for similar homes and it felt really hard to get a read on what people were thinking.

Again, all anecdotal and I'm far from a real estate expert but that's how I feel being in the market right now.

[Calgary14]

I’d be highly skeptical of the quality of new builds right now given the current market

[blankall]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

I don't think its true rents will rise more than prices in a continued boom situation. That hasn't been true in other cities that have boomed.

For example, renting a 1br in Vancouver is 74% more expensive than renting one in Calgary (per:
https://blog.padmapper.com/2021/06/1...n-rent-report/ )

Whereas the price for owned condos is about 3x as high per
https://blog.remax.ca/canadian-real-...inium-trends/#

So if Calgary turned into Vancouver after a decade or two of unabashed real estate boom you could expect prices to triple while rents didn't even double.

I don't think selling and renting is a bad idea from an economic point of view. It adds some lifestyle risk though (might have to move more often, can't control maintenance/decor/renovations)

I'm talking about over the time. In thirty years, rent will be much higher then it is now. Do you want to be paying high rent when you are 70?

When you buy, you lock in the price. Then inflation rate into the value of your mortgage.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by blankall

I'm talking about over the time. In thirty years, rent will be much higher then it is now. Do you want to be paying high rent when you are 70?

When you buy, you lock in the price. Then inflation rate into the value of your mortgage.

Presumably if he sold to rent he would invest the money in some other productive asset that would keep up with inflation. Although the stock market seems maybe high right now as well so who knows.

[GomerPile]

I have noticed an uptick in sales in my hometown as well. Most of the lots that have had "for sale" signs on the golf course seem to now have sold sign - They have been available for years.

Can't wait for new owner/builders moving from the city to the small town, building their dream home and then promptly bitching about their first tax bill. It's the never ending cycle.

Edit - Hometown is an hour outside Calgary!

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by Yoho

apples to oranges comparison.
This is a Calgary thread everyone knows the craziness in Van and TO.

Not entirely unrelated for two reasons:

1) A shift to permanent work from home allows people to live in a different city from where they work. Why would some Vancouverite shell out 2M for a house they could get for 600k here, for instance

2) Downtown office real estate is relatively dirt cheap in Calgary, and a lot of tech firms are shifting operations to what is essentially the #3 tech city in the country.

[Mazrim]

In a somewhat pleasant surprise, after a big wave of houses that went up for sale at the start of the month sold, the rest of the month saw plenty of properties that didn't get into crazy bidding wars. They still sold extremely quickly (and probably with no conditions on the offers), but at least it wasn't for way over asking price. I expect that won't last once spring hits, but I can always hope.

I don't know if this is the same thing in other price ranges but I figured I'd share what I saw.

[burn_this_city]

Neighbor's house sold in a day or so after at least 20+ showings in the first 24 hours, was wave after wave of cars showing up. No idea on bidding war or sale price.

[sketchyt]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

Neighbor's house sold in a day or so after at least 20+ showings in the first 24 hours, was wave after wave of cars showing up. No idea on bidding war or sale price.

Looked at a house this past weekend in an established community in the SE. Nice renovation on a small-ish bungalow. Listed in the mid 600's. More than five offers end of Saturday. Expected to sell for over 700k.

Last month we looked at a place again in a similar community in the SE. Listed in the low 800's. Sold same day, cash deal, no conditions before we could even look at it in the mid-800's.

[Wormius]

Anybody tempted to sell and rent?