In spite of the heat and smoke, August turned out quite nicely in Red Deer, Lacombe, Sylvan Lake and Blackfalds with stronger than expected sales.  At the same time the number of active listings continued their downward trend, pushing supply and demand slightly closer to balance.  Ponoka, Rocky Mountain House and Penhold didn’t experience the same sales activity, but the number of active listings did come down slightly.  Unfortunately, we have a long way to go to get the market back to balance and prices will remain depressed until then.

For the last three and a half years the Alberta real estate market has experienced excess inventories, slow sales and declining prices.  Any gains we should have made from the economic recovery have been offset by crippling changes the federal government applied to mortgage qualifying rules.

Will the ongoing challenges to construction of the Trans Mountain Pipeline will affect the real estate market?  The simple answer is yes, but it’s important to note there is still hope that the issues can be resolved.  The Federal Government is heavily invested in this project both politically and financially and must find a solution.