Calgary's residential real estate market reveals how dramatically things have changed since the economic meltdown was beginning to cut through the local economy a year ago.

The Calgary Real Estate Board said Tuesday that single-family home sales last month were up 63.4 per cent and condo sales increased by 77.5 per cent compared with November 2008.

The MLS average sale price in the single-family market jumped by 6.7 per cent, while condos rose by three per cent.

Consumer confidence has improved in the local residential real estate market from what it was a year ago, said Bonnie Wegerich, president of the Calgary Real Estate Board.

"Clearly, low borrowing costs are helping fuel this recovery," Wegerich said. "Many buyers want to get in while mortgage rates remain at record lows."

Wegerich said a healthy demand for homes combined with a steadily decreasing inventory is holding prices firm.

"A year ago, we were getting a fair number of (new) listings on the market . . . which is typical when people are a little bit concerned," she said.

"Our sales are staying strong through November. . . . The prices are continuing to edge up. I think that's more indicative of the move-up buyers that we've got in the market . . . The move-up buyers are back in the market and that's why our average prices have gone up a little bit."

She said those move-up buyers are selling their homes and moving into bigger houses.

November was the seventh consecutive month that sales in both the Calgary single-family home and condominium markets have increased from year-ago levels. The upward trend began in May.

The average MLS sale price for single-family homes rose for the fourth consecutive month compared with the same month in 2008, while it climbed for the third consecutive month in the condo market.

A key factor in the market is how dramatically the number of listings has fallen compared with a year ago, said Sam Corea, with Re/Max House of Real Estate in Calgary.

"It's a big difference, year over year," he said, adding he believes many people have just taken their homes off the market.

"They missed the boat in the sense they were on the market all year, took them off in early October and it's evident because we didn't see a lot of sales for October, November, but we saw the inventory drop quite a bit.

The month-end inventory for all residential MLS properties for sale in the Calgary region was 7,409 in November. It was 11,339 in November 2008.

Corea said the market is still active with more sales this year than a year ago.

"We started off the year with 949 sales (in January) less than a 1,000. I've been doing this 17 years, I've never seen house and condos in all of Calgary sell less than 1,000 (for a month) ever," said Corea. "It's a totally different vibe."

In November, there were 1,095 single-family home sales for an average sale price of $464,444. November 2008 saw 670 sales for an average price of $435,471.

The condo market last month had 504 sales for an average of $294,264, compared with 284 sales and an average of $285,820 in November 2008.

With sales activity steady and active listings continuing to fall, it's supporting modest price increases, said Richard Cho, senior market analyst in Calgary for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.

"Whenever you have strong demand coupled with falling supply, prices will naturally rise," said Cho, adding the time it takes to sell a home is also down compared with earlier in the year.

"The resale market in Calgary has moved into balanced conditions and with that comes modest growth in prices. We need to be cautious about comparing the year-over-year growth in prices. The year-over-year growth in prices may appear a bit pronounced because we are comparing a time when the housing market is recovering... to a market when it was slowing down in the latter half of 2008."

Also on Tuesday, a report by economist Pascal Gauthier of the TD Bank Financial Group said that on the national level, after climbing by an estimated four per cent on an annual basis this year, the average existing home price is expected to gain another nine to 10 per cent in 2010 with sales increasing by 2.7 per cent.

"But the current momentum is not expected to last beyond the next six to 10 months," he said in the report. "Were it to continue into 2011, there would be more credence to the view that a bubble has formed. But the brakes are currently being applied in the background, which should prevent a bubble from forming between now and then."

mtoneguzzi@theherald.canwest.com