The average selling price for resale homes in Canada has never been this high. The national average reached $319,757 during May, four-tenths of a per cent higher than the previous record set last May, says the Canadian Real Estate Association.

Calgary Herald ArchiveThe average resale selling price in Alberta rose to $329,296 in May, says a national group.

Among the provinces and territories, Alberta had the second highest price at $329,296.

Leading the way was B.C. at $465,139.

The third highest average selling price was the Northwest Territories at $337,577.

For the first five months of this year, the national average sat at $300,777, down from $314,957 for the same period in 2008.

Despite lagging behind last year’s levels by 4.5 per cent, the association says that “over the past four months, the national average price has recovered 16.4 per cent from the low in January.”

Among cities tracked in the monthly industry survey, Calgary’s average price of $372,835 was the fourth highest in the country behind Vancouver, Victoria and Toronto.
From a sales perspective, coast-to-coast activity returned to pre-recession levels last month — and was led by increases in some of the most expensive markets.

CREA chief economist Gregory Klump says MLS sales totalled 49,521 in May.

“This is less than one per cent below activity in the same month one year ago,” he says. “Year-over-year declines have been shrinking since the beginning of the year.”

In Alberta, the 4.6-per-cent increase in sales last month compared to May of last year was second only to Prince Edward Island.

Edmonton recorded the highest year-over-year sales increase at 18.7 per cent. Calgary was the fifth most active market with a jump of 11.3 per cent.

“Sales activity across the country is now closer to the pre-recession peak than it is to the recent low point reached last January,” says CREA president Dale Ripplinger.


He credits strengthening consumer confidence, low interest rates and improved affordability for drawing buyers back into the market. “Fuelled by a string of monthly increases in activity, the number of transactions in May reached the highest point since July 2008,” says Klump.