2023 REAL ESTATE SALES PERFORMANCE VERSUS 2022
As we are now newly into 2024 and a new year for real estate, I thought it would be interesting to compare sales activity for acreages and land for 2023 compared to the previous year 2022 and see what changes/ trends there were in volume of activity. In the analysis I am mainly reviewing properties 2 acres and above. I looked at Heritage Point and Hawks Landing/ Priddis separately as those communities would distort the property value analysis for acreages as there are a lot of high-priced properties in those communities on smaller city type lots.
Total sales of acreages above 2 acres were 256 properties in 2022 versus 233 in 2023, a 10% decrease in sales. The price range with the most significant volume difference was that range over $2M with 18 sales in 2022 versus only 4 property sales over $2M in 2023, or a 450% difference in sales volume between years! Sales of properties under $2M were at very similar levels in both 2022 and 2023 but 2022 had slightly higher levels.
The total of raw land sales was 86 in 2022 versus 105 parcels in 2023, so there |is not a big difference in that category. There were 7 more land sales over $1M in 2023 versus 2022.
Most of the sales activity in both Heritage Point & Hawks Landing was in the $1m – $2M range with the highest levels in the $1M to $1.5M range. There were no sales in the $2M + level in either 2022 or 2023 which is surprising.
Overall, 2022 was a much busier market in the country than 2023. I suspect one of the main reasons was a carryover of activity during the COVID years of 2020 and 2021 when there was a significant movement to the country to attain more privacy and experience the rural living style supported by the increases in the ability to work at home with technological advances and prevailing low interest rates during those years. Of course, that has changed now with rates currently higher than 2023 or 2022.
It will be interesting to see how 2024 performs given the ongoing increase in property values over the last 2 to 3 years, the higher interest rates, and the continued record-high migration to our province and city, leading to the growth and high demand for real estate generally. I also think virtually all acreages reasonably close to the Calgary area will be selling above $1M going forward, unfortunately placing pressure on first time acreage buyers.
Below is a summary of related charts of the sales activity for 2023 and 2022 by groupings of price ranges I generated for this article.
| FOOTHILLS | |||
| 2023 SALES | 2022 SALES | ||
| Acreages – 2 acres + | Land only | Acreages – 2 acres + | Land only |
| $500K – $1M – 81 | $250K – $500K – 42 | $500K – $1M – 83 | $250K – $500K – 36 |
| $1M – $1.5M – 114 | $500K – $750K – 18 | $1M – $1.5M – 121 | $500K – $750K – 18 |
| $1.5M – $2M – 34 | $750K – $1M – 17 | $1.5M – $2M – 32 | $750K – $1M – 7 |
| $2M – $2.5M – 2 | $2M – $2.5M – 11 | $1M + – 10 | |
| #2.5M + – 2 | #2.5M + – 7 | ||
| FOOTHILLS – HERITAGE POINT & HAWKS LANDING | |||
| 2023 SALES | 2022 SALES | ||
| Heritage Point | Hawks Landing | Heritage Point | Hawks Landing |
| $750K – $1M – 3 | $750K – S1M – 0 | $750K – $1M – 4 | $750K – S1M – 0 |
| $1M – $1.5M – 5 | $1MK – $1.5M – 1 | $1M – $1.5M – 9 | $1MK – $1.5M – 5 |
| $1.5M – $2M – 3 | $1.5M – $2M – 1 | $1.5M – $2M – 2 | $1.5M – $2M – 1 |
| $2M – $2.5M – 0 | $2M – $2.5M – 0 | $2M – $2.5M – 0 | $2M – $2.5M – 0 |
| $2M+ – 0 | $2M + – 0 | $2M+ – 0 | $2M + – 0 |
