Calgary: statistics causing fear

Re: "Cutting home prices key to sales success," Nov. 4.

The above article contained numerous statistics used in comparing the Calgary real estate market in 2007 and today. While this comparison may be interesting to some, it continues to put fear into Calgarians' minds. I am a mortgage associate, and 2007 was a great year for me, and recognized by all in my industry as an anomaly year. To give a much more rounded and useful comparison, redo the statistics in the article and compare 2006 to 2008. 2006 was also a great year for me and I am on track to do better in 2008 than in 2006. My sky is not falling, nor is it for most Calgarians. Yes, I will not do as well in 2008 as in 2007, but 2007 was not a normal year. Please stop the fearmongering and compare what is happening in the Calgary real estate market today to a more realistic 2006 year.

link

Well, just go to the Alberta Bubble blog. They put the numbers in context by comparing with many past years, including 2006.

Sales Volume (old criteria of combined SFH and Condo, from BT’s site)

Oct 2001: 1821
Oct 2002: 1930
Oct 2003: 2021
Oct 2004: 2135
Oct 2005: 2584
Oct 2006: 2122
Oct 2007: 1944
Oct 2008: 1442

Also I don't see how the article is fear mongering. In most cases 2006 was a better than 2007 in the statistics used. Consider the title where it is a continuation of the theme that the slowdown is a result of the deliberate decision of potential buyers to wait on the sidelines.

Cutting home prices key to sales success
Buyers waiting for deals in cooling market

Maybe he is referring to a REALTOR suggesting to sell an infill at 625K if the competition is at 700K. Oh, the humanity!