Alberta real estate boom continues

The red-hot Calgary real estate market experienced the highest year-over-year increases in the country last month, according to the latest figures from the Canadian Real Estate Association.

The average home resale in Calgary was $358,214 in May, up 43.6 per cent from the same month a year ago.

In Edmonton the average sale price hit $242,936, an increase of 22.9 per cent from May 2005.

Nationally, the average sale price of an existing home in 25 of Canada's major markets topped $300,000 in May for the first time ever.

Multiple Listing Service (MLS) figures show that the average home sold for a record $303,836, up 12.9 per cent from May 2005. It was the biggest yearly increase recorded in two years.

• LINK: Interactive MLS map of Canada

"Recent price increases are resulting in a growing shortage of lower-priced resale home listings in a number of markets," CREA chief economist Gregory Klump noted in a statement.

"This is crimping sales in lower-price ranges and pushing up the average price for MLS home sales."

Overall, sales in the country's major markets rose 4.4 per cent to a record 37,460 units in May. On a year-to-date basis, sales activity broke records in 12 cities across the country.

Here is a sampling of average MLS home prices in May (with year-over-year changes in brackets):