October 15, 2013 – Market Update
Red Deer Market Update – Sales to the middle of September are ahead of the same time last month and should finish the month strong with 54 sales currently pending. Assuming we maintain the current pace, the overall Red Deer market will end the month still well into seller’s market territory. The one part of the market that was slower has had a great start this month and it looks like the market may be expanding into $500,000 plus price range.
Of course activity in the lower price ranges continues to be strong with the most sales in the $300,000 – $350,000 price range. Fortunately the number of active listings seems to be adequate to meet the demand. The reason that the market is strong can be explained by the article below. More than 80,000 new jobs in Alberta in the past year! People are moving here to take advantage of those jobs and demand for housing is one of the first indicators. While many moving here aren’t ready to buy, they drive up the cost of rent and drive the renters who can buy into the starter market. The sellers are then in a position to move up…. and the cycle continues.
Alberta adds fewer jobs in September – Todd Hirsch • Chief Economist, ATB
Alberta remains the engine of Canada’s job creation machine, but in September it shifted into a slightly lower gear.
Last month, the province added 4,000 new jobs, below the average monthly increase of 5,000 positions during the past two years, according to Statistics Canada. Despite the dip, there was a much larger increase in full-time work (+7,500) between August and September, which was offset by a decrease in part-time work (-3,500). All figures are seasonally adjusted.
While there was only a modest increase in the number of people working, the size of Alberta’s labour force actually slipped slightly last month by 7,600. With fewer people actively in the job market, the unemployment rate fell to 4.3 per cent from 4.8 per cent. Alberta is now tied with Saskatchewan for lowest unemployment rate in the country.
Nationally, a modest 11,000 jobs were created, which fell below the consensus forecast of economists who expected a gain of 16,000. The unemployment rate, however, dropped to 6.9 per cent—the first time it has been below 7 per cent in almost five years. But this was also prompted by a contraction in the size of the labour force.
The long-term trend shows Alberta’s job market is still doing quite well. Since September of last year there has been a net gain of 80,300 jobs (+3.7 per cent), representing nearly 4 in 10 of the new jobs created nationally. Sectors with the strongest employment gains in the province include professional, scientific and technical services (+27,500), health care and social assistance (+20,500), and wholesale and retail trade (+17,900).
