August is always one of my favourite months! It is summer, it is beautiful, and it marks my 15th wedding anniversary and 28 years in Canada!
It also means summer is almost over and that may come as a relief for many as we have been experiencing hotter than average temperatures with record numbers of wild fires all over the place. And with summer coming to an end means vacation is over and back to school or work for most people.
Surprisingly our August market for residential is doing pretty well. Unit sales and average price both up and median price also up 3% . Single family homes are still the strongest. Property prices under $450,000 sell quickly.
One question sellers will often ask when they are interviewing me for a new listing is, Are Homes Still Selling?. The answer is a resounding yes provided they are presentable and priced well. The graph below is only up to July. In a couple more days we will have the numbers for August but spoiler alert, it looks promising.
Calgary and Edmonton market seem to be bucking the national trend again only this time they are going up while the others are going down. About time we see an improvement as prices have been so low for so long. In fact prices are much lower in both Calgary and Edmonton than in other parts of the country that many people are choosing to buy in Edmonton simply because it is so affordable. Large numbers of people are moving from BC and Ontario and looking to buy instead of rent. In the first 6 months of this year, Edmonton was the most search city followed by Calgary compared to a couple years ago when they were only in the top 20.
Extending from my previous newsletter, this August we had our first family vacation since Covid and this time we made it to Alaska for 11 day cruise plus BC to visit family. The cruise was to celebrate our anniversary, my Hubby’s birthday, and indeed we just need a vacation to relax and rejuvenate our energy similar to renovation to rejuvenate a home.
I hear stories of people eating too much when they are on cruise but I am very proud of myself for being restrained and not over-indulging. I limited myself to only one meal a day. (admittedly, that one meal started around 7:00am and finished around 11:00pm and consisted of 15 courses, but there was no snacking in between) I weigh the same before and after.
Alaska is famous for it’s natural beauty, glaciers, rain forest, native art, and seafood. We visited 6 ports and each has it’s own uniqueness. One thing got my attention are the jewelry stores. One little town with 3000 population has over 30 jewelry stores. Most stores even offer 80% off to customers. But even then, I found they are still more expensive than compared to a normal jewelry store in our city.
Our dearest Fionna is going to Grade 6. She is so excited to go back to school and catch up with all her friends & I am so proud to see how much she grew up this summer. The cruise was certainly good for her and she loved to go exploring around the ship by herself. We found an amazing store in Ketchikan with recycled metal sculptures. This first one is an elephant made from spark plugs.
And this one is a bear
These are the real things
This article contains the opinions of Andrew Barrett and Selena Cheung. Licensed Realtors® with COLDWELL BANKER Venture Realty.
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