Fort McMurray hits lowest home inventory in 13 years

The lowest housing inventory in Fort McMurray in 13 years is a sign the market is stabilizing and that the plummeting home values of the last decade may be coming to an end, real estate agents say.

"Homeowners have suffered greatly,"said Tom Albrecht, an agentwith RE/MAX First inFort McMurray and Calgary. "People either can't or won't sell."

For many peoplethe value of their home is less than their mortgage, forcingpotentialsellers to keeptheir property off the market, he said.

Others are holding off on selling, because they're optimisticthat prices will goback up.

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Albrechtsaid he has a list of a few hundredpeople who looked into selling their homes in the last six years, who wanted to sell their homesbut changed their minds after an evaluation.

"The big picture story is that we had high sales [in 2014] and now we have low sales. It has not recovered."

'Sick to your stomach'

Katherine Barbour bought a three-bedroomhome in 2014 for $610,000. Her most recent valuation was $433,000.

"It feelslike sick to your stomach," Barbour said.

At some point she would like to get a bigger hometo make room for her growing family, but she would need the market to turn around, she said.

"We may very well be here for 10 more years, because we can't afford to sell."

Barbour and her husband also own a mobile home, which they've tried selling onthree occasions, but weren't able towithout losing money.

38 per cent drop in listings

In October 2019, Fort McMurray had628 active listings, but only388last month,a drop of 38 per cent over12 months.

Melanie Galea, a real estate agent with Re/Max, said there are a few reasons for the lowered inventory: it's winter and there are fewer bankruptcies on the market because the courts have limited capacity during COVID-19.

She's also spoken to many clients who can't afford to sell because their home valuation is so low.

"It's a common conversation," Galea said. But "there's no trying in this market. Buyers are not overpaying."

In 2014 the average single-family home sold for$737,000. In 2020,the average home is sellingfor $501,000.

Ann-Marie Lurie, chief economist for the Alberta Real Estate Association, said thelow inventory is good news for Fort McMurray's struggling housing market.

"That's going to support some at least modest improvement for prices if that continues," Lurie said.

"This market has struggled with too much supply relative to the demand for quite some time."