Residential real estate sales in Alberta so far this year have ballooned to nearly $18 billion in total dollar volume, a jump of almost 36 per cent compared to a year ago, according to the latest data by the Canadian Real Estate Association.

And those numbers are being boosted by the sale of high-end properties in the Calgary market.

Until the end of July, a whopping 326 residential properties sold for more than $1 million in Calgary compared to 209 sales during the same period last year.

CREA says the dollar volume of sales in the province until the end of July was $17.7 billion. For the first seven months of 2006, the dollar volume was $13 billion. Sales in the province are also up 4.8 per cent compared to the same period last year while the average price has soared by 29.5 per cent to $355,720 year to date.

In 2006, total MLS residential sales in Calgary were 32,912, according to the Calgary Real Estate Board, which was a 4.53 per cent hike from the previous year’s 31,485 sales.

At the end of December, the average sale price of a single-family home was $396,870. That included properties in Calgary and surrounding areas.

The real estate board now separates that data and for July the average sale price of a single-family home in Calgary metro was $505,920.