Thursday, February 21, 2008

Calgary: Are homes selling quickly?

From Bob Truman's what's new page (emphasis mine):


Feb 20
With 4690 single family homes on the market, we have more than double the inventory compared to Feb 2007, yet prices continue to rise and the time required to sell a house has gone down dramatically. Over the past week, it took an average of 37 days for a home to sell. In January, the average was 50.

This may be pedantic but I would like to point out that there is a difference between the Days on Market (DOM) and the time required to sell a house. Sales are low and inventory is high so how could homes be selling faster? Here are a set of factors that may be impacting Days on Market:


  • Days on Market does not account for the time if a home was previously listed on the MLS. Sometimes homes are relisted so that they appear "fresh".
  • Days on Market is calculated from the set of homes that actually sell. Homes that remain listed are not included.
  • In December the portion of newly listed homes is smaller because there are relatively few new listings in November and December and many remaining listings from spring/summer. In February there is a higher proportion of newly listed (and relisted) homes.

Another stat to consider is the Month Of Inventory. This represents the amount of time at the current sales rate it would take to sell all the inventory.

SFH from Feb 1-20 (Mike's Site)
Sales: 827
Inventory: 4703
MOI = (4703/827)*(20/30)
MOI = 3.8 (buyer's market)

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