A lot can happen in a year, particularly in a realm as sensitive as the real estate market. One such example of that can be seen in the amount of change that's occurred in minimum down payments in Calgary.
In a report published Thursday, Zooocasa identified how much minimum down payments have changed over the past year in the Calgary, Airdrie, Canmore, Chestermere, Cochrane, High River, Okotoks, and Strathmore, and, interestingly, not all of them were increases.
Zoocasa used the traditional down payment minimums of 5% on the first $500K, 10% on the portion up to $1M, and 20% on purchase prices of $1M or above. Benchmark prices from each of the eight markets, sourced from the Calgary Real Estate Board, were used to calculate the minimum down payments as of March 2022 and March 2023.
From that data, Zoocasa found that the Calgary saw a somewhat moderate change, with minimum down payments increasing by $2,930 from $37,050 to $39,980, as a result of the benchmark price increasing from $620,500 to $649,800.
That nearly $3,000 increase puts Calgary around the middle of the pack in terms of the amount of change, as it was about double the increases in Strathmore (+$1,335) and High River (+$1,600) and about half the increases in Okotoks (+$6,000) and Chestermere (+$12,110).
Chestermere saw the largest increase by a significant margin as a result of its benchmark price increasingly drastically from $653,800 to $724,900 in just a year, perhaps indicating a strong interest in the market.
READ: Calgary Is Becoming Less Affordable For Both Renters and Homeowners
Meanwhile, Cochrane saw little to no change in the past year, with a negligible increase of just $130 as a result of its benchmark price staying steady, increasing just slightly from $583,400 to $584,700.
(Zoocasa)
Most notable, however, is Canmore, which not only didn't see an increase, but actually saw a dramatic decrease of $18,040.
Although Canmore still holds the highest benchmark price for single-detached homes of the eight markets, the benchmark price decreased fairly significantly over the past year, from $1,399,200 to $1,309,000. That being said, the minimum down payment is still well over $250,000, which is more than five times higher than every other region, so perhaps the decrease can be viewed as a positive.
