The Chaulk Team – Aug 2022

2022 AND 2021 VERY GOOD YEARS FOR FOOTHILLS REAL ESTATE!

I thought readers might be interested in a market summary of acreage sales activity that happened so far in 2022 in the MD Foothills compared to 2021 and 2020. As most people know, the Calgary and surrounding areas market have been highly active in most sectors experiencing healthy levels of sales as well as strong property value increases since 2020. As I mentioned in a previous article, when COVID started there was a feeling in the industry that the market would suffer with many forced to stay home, job losses, restrictions in place etc. but the opposite occurred with a significant increase in interest in move-up activity in the city and to acreage living generally.

Additionally, the completion of the Southwest Ring Road leading out to 22X has helped sales in that corridor. Only over the last couple of months has activity slowed, likely attributed to interest rates starting to move up, inflation issues and high prices keeping many first-time acreage buyers and move- up buyers from being able to purchase or becoming more cautious.

Below are comparison charts showing the number of sales in the MD Foothills for 2022 compared to both 2021 and 2020. The jumps in 2021 compared to 2020 were huge increases in volume of sales. (Please don’t be confused, I am NOT taking about percentage of dollar increases, but quantity of sales)

There were high levels of sale volume increases in all price ranges including over the $1.25 M range in 2021 and 2022 compared to 2020.

Analysis of pricing year over year since 2020 also reflects price increases realized by acreage owners. To try and get a sense of price increases I focused on smaller acreages as opposed to large land parcels, as the quantity of sales under $1M was the highest, although there were also healthy increases in the number of sales above $1M as well, as seen in the chart below.

For acreages 2 – 10 acres in the $500K to $995K range the average sale price in 2020 was $752,000, in 2021 it was $792, 636 and in 2022 in was $807,537. I know from personal experience several acreages I evaluated in 2019 and 2020 in the $950K range e.g., actually sold in 2022 for $200K or more than the evaluated values I set for the clients in 2019/20 resulting in about a 8 – 10% gain each year.

The analysis I did for 156 sales and 162 sales in 2021 and 2022 respectively also indicated percentage gains in around the 8% range each year. This is also true for properties in the $1M to $1.5M. There were similar increases in this product pricing range and the number of sales jumped exponentially in 2021 and 2022 compared to 2020.

Going forward it is hard to predict that these percentages will continue, particularly now with interest rates rising and inflation issues. But one thing seems clear, the demand for acreage living has certainly increased since COVID and it will likely continue to be healthy.

Wayne Chaulk
www.chaulkrealestate.com