Prices continue to rise as Calgary home sales spike 23% from last February

The Calgary Real Estate Board (CREB) says February home sales were up nearly 23 per cent from last year as new listings rose.

The board says sales totalled 2,135 units, while the volume of sales in dollars rose 41.3 per cent to $1.25 billion.

New listings were up 13.6 per cent to 2,711, while inventory was down just over 14 per cent from last year.

Ann-Marie Lurie, chief economist at CREB, says strong demand and low supply are continuing to drive price gains in the city.

"We continue to see seller market conditions, and ultimately, that's been driving further price growth in our market."

Lurie saysthey're also starting to see supply levels rise for some higher-priced homes.

"What we saw happenis listings continued to rise, but with that,sales alsorose.Soit was almost like they were rising at similar paces," she told CBC News in an interview. "It really prevented any significant change to the really low inventory levels."

The chief economist forecasts that Calgary's market willseestrong price growth in the spring season, but shebelieves the housing market is stillshifting toward more balanced conditions.

"[It's] definitely not as much of a seller's market condition as what we have traditionally seen."

The benchmark price across all home types was $585,000 for the month, up more than 10 per cent from a year earlier.

Properties were on the market for an average of 24 days before selling in February, down almost 27 per cent from last year.