Have you ever looked at Alberta’s Mortgage Statistics and tried to see the personal stories that go into the number crunched results? If so, were you able to reconcile the statistics with what you know of real life? Were these numbers useful? What can we learn from these dry columns of figures? Do they ring true for you?

Alberta Mortgage Statistics, Photo by Rev Dan Catt, flickr

CanEquity.com Alberta compiles all of the online Mortgage enquiries information for its website. It does not count e-mail, fax, phone-ins, walk-ins or contact forms. It does not include business loans, concentrating on the residential sector of the marketplace.

What can we learn about Albertans’ mortgage habits from this government site? You can find out when the most mortgages were applied for between 2002 and today. When would you imagine that the lowest time for mortgage applications was, in that time period? Would it surprise you to know that the all time low was in December 2003? What was going on then that stopped prospective home-owners from applying for mortgages at that time?

There was a big scare about gambling in Alberta in 2003. The Alberta gaming research institute reported that gambling was a big local problem. The pro and con rhetoric surrounding gambling usually becomes heated enough to kill even a spendthrift’s desire to go for broke. And for many people, the idea of signing a 25 year mortgage is akin to taking a gigantic gamble. They’re gambling that their health and employment status will not take a downturn, and that unforeseen emergencies won’t blow their budget out of the water. The atmosphere was decidedly cool toward speculation at that time. And of course Alberta was experiencing high unemployment at the time, with 92,000 people looking for work.

You’ll be happy to know that things have changed greatly since then . The record high for residential mortgages was in January 2008. Now, that’s good news. It means that we’re hopeful and secure and ready to sign on the dotted line. That’s the kind of thinking that feeds on itself and gains momentum as it moves through our vibrant community.

There is plenty of other information on this website, some of it quite unexpected. You can discover which month is the most popular among would-be home owners when it comes to applying for a mortgages. It turns out that January is the biggest month for mortgage applications in Alberta, followed closely by March. Hmm. What’s wrong with February, I wonder? I’d hazard a guess that it’s the most depressing month of the year, and that people are just trying to survive it without getting suicidal.

Now, which weekday do you suppose is the most popular for applying for a mortgage? Tuesday! Did you guess? Try this one. When is the most popular time of day to apply online for mortgage information? Noon hour. By far.

Calgarians apply for more mortgages than anyone else in Alberta. The average age of these applicants is 36, and the average loan taken on by them is $195,604.

This may give you an idea of where you fit into Alberta’s home-owning picture.