Calgary home prices forecast to decline again in 2020, but by less than in 2019

After home prices slipped by 3.4 per cent in 2019, the Calgary Real Estate Board expects 2020 will bring continued but smaller declines.

"Job growth, combined with recent easing in mortgage rates and price declines, is starting to bring some purchasers back into the lower end of the market," CREB chief economistAnn-Marie Luriesaid in a release.

The organization's 2020 forecast predicts a small increase in the number of home sales this year, but a small decrease in prices.

Overall, prices are forecast to decline by 0.7 per cent, with some variation by housing type.

Detached homes are expected to lose 0.5 per cent of their value, while prices for attached homes are forecast to decline 1.1 per cent. Apartment-style condos are expected to dip by 0.8 per cent.

Sales in all three categories are expected to edge up slightly. Overall, CREB forecasts 16,731 home sales will happen this year, compared with 16,365 last year.

Most of that sales growth is expected to come in the lower-priced portion of the market.

"We are seeing more transactions in the $500,000-and-below price point for residential homes," Lurie said.

CREB describes the current market conditions as different from what Calgarians might have gotten used to prior to 2014.

"We are settling into a new normal of slower sales, supply choice, limited price growth and a cautious consumer," the organization said in a release.