After a slowdown in November and December, typical for the holiday season, the housing market here in Central Alberta is picking up, according to the most recent stats from the Central Alberta Realtors Association.

Sales activity was up nearly 7% across Alberta in January compared to that same month last year, and according to local real estate agent for RE/MAX Lori Hellofs, Lacombe is following suit with that trend.

“Most of us realtors are very busy right now, we’re out doing market evaluations, we are seeing buyers put some ink to paper, so offers are coming in we have quite a few conditional sales out there right now, so it’s looking up.  And it’s a good time to get your house on the market because we do have buyers, all the local realtors are working hard and we’ve got lots of out of town realtors coming in right now”.

There were more than 3,000 active listings in the central Alberta region at the end of January, the highest level of inventory since 2011 and the second highest ever for this time of year.

Hellofs says there are currently 106 homes for sale in Lacombe, 120 on the market in Blackfalds.

She notes it remains a buyers’ market with lots of selection and prices coming down.

She encourages you to obtain your pre-approval from your bank or mortgage broker and turn to a local realtor to help you make the best investment.

“Just because we know the market, we know the school systems, we know all the amenities in the area and of course we know if things are priced correctly.  I never get offended if someone says we have a couple more realtors coming in here to give us a market evaluation, I think that’s smart business”.

Hellofs does encourage those market evaluations if you’re considering listing your home.