By Liam Verster

Housing Market

Grande Prairie’s housing market rebounds in June

Jul 16, 2020 | 11:44 AM

The housing market in Grande Prairie made a big recovery in June, after suffering serious drops in the past few months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

April saw 53 homes in the Swan City sold, while May saw just 56 sales, but in June, the number of sales increased to 133.

Comparing the year-over-year average, Lesley Craig, President of the Grande Prairie and Area Association of Realtors, says June was down by five per cent from that of 2019, (133 sales compared to 140 in June 2019). However, that’s much higher than the previous months, which were down 56 per cent in April and 58 per cent in May on a year-over-year comparison.

Data released from the Canadian Real Estate Association on Wednesday shows the nationwide number of sales were up 63 per cent in June compared to May, and Craig says Grande Prairie was very close to that, with sales increasing by 58 per cent.

Craig says the average sales price in Grande Prairie also saw a slight up tick in June, after being recorded at $300,000 in May.

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“So for June of 2020, it was $316,930, which was only down 0.3 per cent from last June.”

She adds that’s pretty stable for Grande Prairie listings, which tend to float around the $300,000 mark.

Statistics provided by Craig shows more year-over-year details on those prices.

• Detached homes went for an average of $333,320, down 1.2 per cent;
• Semi-detached homes averaged at $250,550, down 3.9 per cent;
• Row houses saw a 21.1 per cent decline to $148,000;
• The average price for an apartment was down 46.3 per cent to $87,375.

Meanwhile, figures from the Alberta Real Estate Association shows the average year-over-year comparison of price for other, similarly sized Alberta communities:

• In Fort McMurray, prices were down 13 per cent to $358,236;
• Red Deer’s prices were up 14.5 per cent to $355,178;
• Lethbridge’s prices climbed 10.3 per cent to $303,602;
• Medicine Hat was down 1.3 per cent to $303,234.

New listings have also seen a jump in the Swan City. There were 241 newly listed homes in June 2020, an increase of 2.1 per cent last June, and a 31 per cent improvement over May 2020, which saw 166 listings. CREA numbers show a 49.5 per cent increase in new listings nation-wide during those same months.

Realtors in Grande Prairie are still following COVID-19 guidelines, including only hosting one cohort or family at a showing at a time, and improved cleaning and sanitation between showings.

Craig says they will be maintaining those rules until the province enters the next stage of the reopening plan.