Calgary Real Estate Market Update April 2023

Written by Alan Kelly, Bōde’s Chief Economist

Real Estate Market Report | Calgary | February 2023

Calgary continues to see demand outpace new supply in the aftermath of COVID-19.

Calgary’s real estate continues to hold strong. If you are looking to sell your home, you will have very little competition and homes ARE selling.

It is a new year and a new story when it comes to Calgary’s real estate market. Home buyers continue to purchase in Calgary – due to the strong economy as well as an increase in migration. Many sellers seem to be sitting back to see what is happening to interest rates, however, the homes on the market are moving. 

We empower home buyers and sellers with the data they need to be successful. When you arm yourself with transparent data, you will feel more confident in setting the price of your home and selling it or buying at the right price. 

Obviously, there are many important factors to consider (what kind of home you have, what community etc.), so it’s important to look specifically at what the housing market is doing in your neighbourhood. It is dead-easy to look at our data with a personal lens. 

Bōde sellers are more successful and actually make more money, on average, than the rest of the market. We are also here to make sure you have the information you need to make the decisions that are right for YOU!

So what's happening in the Calgary real estate market as of February 2023?

Let’s start with a Macroeconomics view 

To understand what’s happening in the real estate market you have to look at supply and demand.

The best proxies for supply and demand are:

Supply

New supply: New Listings (i.e. the number of homes recently listed for sale)

Total supply: Inventory (i.e. the total number of homes listed for sale)

Demand

Sales (i.e. the number of homes recently sold)

 

Supply & Demand

Months of Supply (i.e. the number of months it would take to sell all current inventory at the current rate of sale)

 

These metrics are the best indicators of the health of the real estate market. Let’s look at what they show us.

Calgary continues to see demand outpace new supply in the aftermath of COVID-19

New listings in March were down 12%

sales were up 12% vs. the average of the previous 5 years. Sales continue the strong trend they’ve been on since July 2020. Sales are lower than last year, however they are ~50% higher than pre-pandemic levels.

The total number of homes for sale is down 43% compared to the average of the previous 5 years. Inventory levels continue to stay very low compared to historical norms.

The combination of low supply and high demand has kept ‘months of supply’ low at ~1.3 months which is down 63% vs the previous 5 years. This continues to be a very low level for Calgary, but is higher than this time last year.

 

Low inventory & fewer months of supply makes conditions more favourable for sellers, while more inventory and higher months of supply is more favourable for buyers.

 

Overall, Calgary home prices are up 2.1% over last month and up 0.8% over March last year.

What does this mean for sellers?

 

Right now supply is still very low compared to previous years, and demand is relatively high which means it is a good time to sell your home. Sellers who price their home well will be able to sell quickly. Prices have been steadily dropping from month to month, this needs to be reflected in the seller’s list price.

 

However, your specific property value will be determined by market forces both within your community and against similar active listings. To find out what supply and demand look like for your specific community, click here.

 

What does this mean for buyers?

 

There are currently far fewer homes for sale than there have been in previous years. This means active buyers need to move fast to beat other buyers to available listings.

 

Market conditions vary substantially by property type, community and price range

Calgary's Detached Homes

Above, we’ve looked at the overall Calgary market, but different segments are performing very differently. Let’s look at a few examples.

 

In March, new listings of detached homes were down 25%, while sales were down 12% vs the previous 5 years. However, compared to pre-pandemic levels, sales are still strong.

As a result, the overall supply of detached homes is down 45% compared to previous years.

This has led months of supply to be down 53%, which means it continues to be a relatively good time to be selling a detached home, and one of the toughest times to be buying, as there’s less inventory than normal to choose from. 

Detached prices increased quickly in early 2022, putting prices above their previous record levels from 2014. Detached home prices are up 2.2% over last month and up 1.8% over March last year.

Calgary's Apartments

The apartment market improved significantly in 2021 & 2022 relative to a very difficult 2020. Sales were incredibly strong for March 2022 (up 91% vs the average of the last 5 years).

 

Apartments have been performing especially well (relative to detached & attached homes) since interest rates started increasing in April 2022 – due to the fact they’re relatively more affordable.

There are currently 33% fewer apartments for sale than typical for this time of year a significant drop over the last 9 months.

Apartment prices are up 2.6% over last month while being up 10.6% over March last year.

Calgary's Attached Homes

Attached homes (i.e. semi-detached or row homes) saw 11% fewer listings in March vs previous years. Sales were up 16% compared to the last 5 years.

Total inventory of attached homes has been incredibly low in recent months. It is currently 52% lower than the average of the previous 5 years.

Prices for attached homes are up 2.3% over last month and up 4% over March last year.

What really matters is what’s happening in your specific local property market. There are some communities and price bands and property types where homes are performing better/worse than market average.

It’s critical to understand the dynamics in your local property market

 

To understand your local property market you need to look at your local data. Head over to Bōde’s new and improved Market Data dashboard, the only place where you can see all the data yourself, including being able to filter on community, property type, and price range to see exactly what’s happening where you live.

 

You can also see the sold price of any home that has sold in the last 12 years using Bode’s Sold Data page.

 

If you’re thinking about selling, take a look at how Bōde helps sellers sell for 1.3% higher prices while paying 50% less commission.

Featured Listings

Bōde sellers sell for more and save a lot

Here are a just few of the many successful sellers

7 Toscana Gardens NW

379 Chelsea Passage

As a homeowner, or potential buyer, it's important to stay
up to date with current mortgage rate trends

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