The average absorbed price of a new single family home in Calgary Metro last month was 1.7% lower than June last year, according to figures released by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.

Last month’s average was $577,965, down from $587,886 last year, while in the Calgary CMA, which includes Airdrie, the MD of Rocky View, Chestermere, Cochrane, Irricana, Beiseker and Crossfield, the average absorbed price last June was $607,394 compared to $556,236 last month.*

“The new market appears to be responding to competition from the resale market, so absorbed prices are starting to reflect a lower price level,” says Lai Sing Louie, who was recently promoted to the position of regional economist for the Prairies and Territories for CMHC.

Meanwhile, Calgary and area builders started slightly fewer new single-family homes in June than in May and recorded the smallest year-over-year decline in more than a year and a half.

New home starts in June were 374 units, down from 382 in May and 17% behind last June’s 450 single-family starts.

“While still down on a year-over-year basis, June’s performance represents the weakest decline since October 2007,” says Louie. “In terms of the overall picture, the single-detached market has improved and is a bit higher than our forecast for the first half of the year.

“We expect single-detached starts to keep closing the gap between last year’s starts and we’re looking at 3,000 to 3,300 starts this year.”

June’s performance brings the number of single starts in the CMA to 1,549 and 1,164 in the city of Calgary.

The available inventory of single-family homes in June was reduced to 652 units, which includes showhomes, as 362 homes were completed and 377 were taken possession by new owners.

Multi-family starts continue to lag behind last year, with 60 starts in June, down from 127 units last year.

“There were no apartment units started for the second consecutive month this year,” says Louie. “The heightened level of apartment condominium units under construction needs to be completed and absorbed before a significant increase in construction occurs.”

Year-to-date, 432 multis have been started, 92% lower than last year’s 5,489 starts to the end of June.

In the seven largest cities in Alberta, new home starts were actually up 1% June to June, to 1,446 from 1,432, bolstered by year-over-year increases in the City of Edmonton ( 3.9%), Wood Buffalo/Fort McMurray ( 245%), Grande Prairie ( 65%), Lethbridge ( 44%) and Red Deer ( 48%).

*CMHC measures the price of new homes at the time the new owners move in, meaning prices quoted are what homes sold for at the time contracts were written