John Maygard

It is still early in the year and the market is active with the far majority of sales under the $500,000 price range. This combined with the continuing low interest rates shows it is still a good time to buy. The only draw back would be a slightly lower inventory then hoped for but with spring approaching this may be remedied. Airdrie is still on the slow side compared to previous years with about 300 active listings. New homes are following suit and waiting like most people for a full recovery from the recession and renewed demand by consumers. All -in all this should be a good year.

Thanks for stopping by,

John

Airdrie is now ranked as one of the top 10 communities in which to do business in the June 2009 edition of Venture Magaine. The top 10 cities were chosen based on criteria including costs, business traffic, existing strengths and upside potential. 2314 new business licenses were issued in 2008 and underlines the increase in Airdries population increase and new home starts.
Number one was Alberta's International Region which includes the City of Leduc and the towns of Calmar, Beaumont, and Devon. Visist www.albertaventure.com to review all the winners.

What a turn around! The Calgary Real Estate Board posted stats for last December showing just over 300 sales for a board area covering over 1 million people. Yes it was extremely slow.

All that has chaged thanks to the drop in prices after a boom period and the lowest interest rates in Canadian history. This has spurred the entry level, first time buyers into action and has seen things heat up substantially. You just can't hold people down forever.

Our government is also talking about no significant rate increases for some time.

Could this be leading into the long awaited balanced market?

I see constrruction projects like new interchanges and new home builders still building. We are very fortunate here in the North West of Canada.

Now to see the rest of the world start to pick up....

After a longer, snowier and colder then usual winter the spring is finally here in good old Airdrie and Calgary.

Winters in Alberta are always too long but I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. With our usually stable ecomomy, government, and standard of living...not to mention the great people I have yet to find all these pluses in another location...even though I may not be looking too hard to find them elswhere.

With spring we are now into a much improved real estate market. Prices are steady and sales are up with listings keeping up at a good rate. Still a good time to buy and many people seem to agree and are finally taking the plunge back into the market.

On the economy...it appears Alberta should ride out this storm better then some areas and be one of the first places to recover when the demand for natural resources picks up. This is evident with several clients I am working with from our Eastern Provinces. They assured me that things are not as rosy there and that employment is still to be found out west.

My hope is for a balanced real estate market for some time and a fairly quick recovery of the economy.

Regards,

John

New home buyers and existing home owners can benefit from these new proposals from our Feds.

There are three actions proposed by our government to help stimulate the housing industry.

1.First-Time Home Buyers Tax Credit...the 2009 proposed budget will introduce a new non-refundable tax credit based on $5,000 for first time home buyers who purchase and take possession of a qualifying home after January 27, 2009.

2. The Home Renovation Tax Credit...A temporary 15% tax credit for home renovations with eligible expenditures exceeding $1,000 but not exceeding $10,000 with up to $1,250 in relief.

3. Home Buyers Plan...Homebuyers can withdraw up to $25,000 from their RRSP's tax free to buy or $20,000 to build their first home.

For full information visit http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/tpcs/rrsp-reer/hbp-rap/menu-eng.html