[kora]

Oil Bust Squeezes Calgary
Wall Street Journal
6 Apr 2016

"The housing market in Calgary, capital of Canada’s struggling energy sector, has been hit so hard it makes the challenges faced by U.S. oil towns look relatively mild." ....

"In Calgary, the slowdown also has been felt by a wider range of homeowners. In Houston most of the pain so far is being felt among sellers of high- end homes priced at $500,000 and above—a sector that saw a 12% decrease in sales volume in the year ended in February.

Until recently, this also was true in Calgary. The slowdown had been more or less confined to high-end homes worth C$700,000 ( US$ 534,800) and higher.

But now that trend is playing out in lower price ranges as well, especially in the C$ 500,000 to C$ 600,000 range, which includes the majority of the detached homes, according to Ann-Marie Lurie, chief economist with the Calgary Real Estate Board." ....

"“I haven’t got a buyer in real estate right now who isn’t petrified to even buy,” said Keith Crawford, a Calgarybased realtor at Century 21, adding buyers aren’t sure if prices have hit a bottom.

Calgary’s housing market is suffering more partly because this city of about 1.2 million people has a less diversified economy than Houston. Also, Canada’s economy overall also remains vulnerable to a slowdown right now, while the U.S. economy remains strong.

Finally, Calgary’s oil industry is more dependent on a pricey method of extraction that is more vulnerable to a drop in oil prices."