Real estate sector in Calgary saw steady growth in first half of 2017

Housing sales saw steady growth in the first half of the year, according to numbers released Tuesday by the Calgary Real Estate Board (CREB).

All told, there were 11,957 sales to the end of July, marking a 9.24 per cent increase over the same time period last year.

"When we look at activity in the first half of the year, sales were far stronger than we had originally anticipated," said Ann-Marie Lurie, chief economist with CREB. "So it could be that those sales just happened a lot earlier than what we're seeing now."

The month of July was a slow one for the real estate sector, however,with 1,637 salesa 6.14 per cent drop from the same month a year earlier.

The overall increase is good newsbut doesn't mean the city will see a return to the early2000swhen the real estate industry was red hot.

"In Calgary, especially, we've gotten used to these boom-bust cycles, but this grow path will be very different," saidLurie. "I mean we're having a slower economic recovery, and we should also see a slower recovery in the housing market as well."

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