Home sales in Calgary were down in the first six months of this year according to the Calgary Real Estate Board.

The chief economist with the board, Ann-Marie Lurie says it's a similar picture in Okotoks.

""The actual inventory in the market really isn't far off of what we saw really throughout 2011 to 2013 June levels," Lurie says. "It is below 2010 and and then again below that high that we recorded in 2008."

She says home sales have dropped about 30 per cent between January and June from where they were in the same three month period one year ago.

But she says prices are remaining pretty steady.

"If we look at what happened in June, the benchmark price was $442,800 so it's actually still higher than what was reported in January which is a little different than what we had in the city," she says. "The city is currently running about 1 per cent lower, June figures versus January numbers, and Okotoks is a little bit different. On a year to date basis if we just average the entire year so far we're still about 7 per cent higher than we were last year."

She says the Okotoks market is a little more balanced than the city's is and that's the reason for the difference.

She says Okotoks benefits from the fact that typically the product that's offered is not as low priced as what's offered in Airdrie but typically buyers get a larger home that's newer and on a larger parcel of land.

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