May 15, 2014 – Market Update
Red Deer sales in the first half of the month are at record setting levels. If that pace continues to the end of the month, it will be the biggest month in since we started keeping track in 1988. Thankfully the number of active listings managed increased somewhat although not enough to keep the market close to balanced. The pending sales count is still very high suggesting that the month will finish strong.
Spring is always the busiest time in the central Alberta real estate market for at least a couple of reasons. First, a sale or purchase now, often allows folks to move at the end of the school year. Spring is also break-up time in the energy sector when those people often have some extra time off to look for a new home.
While there have been some layoffs in the energy industry, other sectors in the Alberta economy are making a large contribution to our growth:
Rising prices boost manufacturing numbers – Todd Hirsch, Chief Economist, ATB Financial
Manufacturers across the province have been busier than they’ve been in months, according to the latest information from Statistics Canada. March shipments of manufactured goods rose to $6.6 billion (seasonally adjusted)—a 1.7 per cent increase over the previous month.
Over the last few years, the value of manufactured goods has been rather flat. It’s only been in the last few months that shipments have been trending higher, albeit modestly. Over the last twelve months, total shipments have risen by 5.5 per cent compared to the previous twelve month period.
The rising trend—and particularly the increase witnessed in March—may not be an accurate reflection of what’s going on in factories and refineries across the province. Much of the increase may be due to rising prices, not strong sales or higher volume of production.
The increase in March was in food manufacturing alone. In Alberta, that’s made up mostly of beef and pork processing. The higher value of shipments is due entirely to the recent price jumps for beef and pork. Petroleum refining has also been rising because of higher prices for gasoline and other refined energy products.
Other major manufacturing sectors for Alberta such as wood products, steel pipe, machinery and chemicals have increased by much smaller amounts or have actually slipped a bit. Overall employment in manufacturing is up year-over-year by only 2.5 per cent—below the all-sector growth rate of 4.0 per cent.
