Calgary Real Estate Market Update - January 2022

Prices Still Being Impacted by Sellers’ Market Conditions

Sales continue to remain strong, while inventory levels continue their downward trend, now at just 2,620 units, which is the lowest since 2006. The result is a very low months of supply at 1.3 months, which is especially low for this early in the year.

Because the market is so tight right now in Calgary, prices keep on rising. January’s benchmark price reached $472,300, which represents a monthly gain of almost 2% and a 12% year-over-year gain.

Ann-Marie Lurie, CREB® Chief Economist says, “Expected gains in lending rates are contributing to persistently strong demand in the housing market, as purchasers are eager to get ahead of any increases.”

“We did see more listings this month, but it did little to change the market balance or take any pressure off prices. This was expected, as these conditions should persist for several more months.”

Sales in January were at just 2,009, much lower than record levels, but more than 98% above long-term trends. In terms of new listings, there were 2,476 in January, making the sales-to-new-listings ratio 81%, which is much higher than usually recorded in the first month of the year.

UPDATES IN THE HOUSING MARKET

Detached Homes

New listings reached 1,295 units in January, which was an improvement. But with only 1,148 sales, inventory levels kept falling. With so little supply, it’s nearly impossible to expect stronger sales gains. Inventory levels of detached homes dropped to a new low in January at just 895 units, and this follows December when the months of supply was also below one month.

With market conditions so tight, it’s no surprise that prices continued to rise. The benchmark price for detached homes rose by $12,000 when compared to December. This represents a monthly gain of more than 2% and a 14% year-over-year gain. When you compare these gains with January 2021, they seem significant, but most of 2021’s price growth didn’t start happening until springtime.

Semi-Detached Homes

There was a nice influx of new listings in January when compared to very few at the end of the year. This contributed to additional gains in sales. Even though there were plenty of new listings, that didn’t help inventory levels because they stayed fairly low. With an inventory of only 242 units, levels are 46% below long-term trends. Strong sales, along with low inventory caused the months of supply to only be slightly over one month, which is a lot lower than last year’s as well as long-term averages.

The tight market led to prices trending up when compared to December, making the benchmark price in January for semi-detached homes $439,900. This trend was seen across all districts, however, monthly gains in the City Centre and North West were not as high as they were in the rest of Calgary.

Row Houses

Sales of row houses in January reached 305 units, which is over twice the levels typically seen in January. This sales growth was tied to the fact that there a lot of new listings were added during the month. However, new listings remain lower than usual levels, but they did go up from numbers seen during the last several months of 2021. January saw a slight softening in inventory levels compared to December. With just 422 units, supply levels are still well under long-term trends. The result is that we’re still in a sellers’ market. 

With tight market conditions being so persistent, prices for row houses continued to go up but the pace was not as high as what’s being experienced in detached homes. The benchmark price in January reached $305,600, which was almost 2% higher than in December and 9% higher than in 2021.

Condominiums & Apartments

There were 357 condominium and apartment sales in January, which were the highest numbers for this month since January 2007. The increase in sales was largely due to all the new listings that came on the market, which totaled 551. With more than 1,000 units now in inventory, the supply in this sector is now more than in any of the other sectors. Even though there was an increase in sales, there is still three months of supply, which indicates fairly balanced market conditions.

With ample supply in this market, prices are staying fairly unchanged compared to the previous month. The benchmark price in January for this sector was $251,200, which is more than 2% higher than 2021.

REGIONAL MARKET UPDATES

Airdrie

Even though inventory levels have been persistently low, sales rose in January to near-record highs. These sales gains were due to the number of new listings that came on the market in January compared to those over the previous few months. But due to low inventory levels, Airdrie is still in a strong sellers’ market, with under one month of supply.

As tight market conditions persist, there will continue to be upward pressure placed on prices. The total benchmark price for residential homes in Airdrie rose to $408,900, which is almost 3% over December prices. Most of this increase can be attributed to significant gains in the detached and semi-detached sectors.

Cochrane

January sales in Cochrane reached record highs, which was largely due to increases in new listings compared to how little was available during the final months of last year. Gains in new listings kept inventory levels fairly stable, but with just 62 units, inventory levels are more than 70% lower than what is typically seen in this market. Strong sales combined with low inventory kept Cochrane’s months of supply under one month, which is the lowest ever for Cochrane in January.

Tight market conditions keep driving prices up. The benchmark price in January for detached homes went up to $512,900. This was caused by strong monthly gains at the end of 2021, although the monthly growth wasn’t as much as what was experienced in a few other regional markets.

Okotoks

Sales continued fairly strong in Okotoks, even though low inventory levels persist. There were just 38 units available in January, which is the lowest amount of any previous January and 76% below long-term averages. Forty-three units were sold in January, so with 38 available units, the months of supply stayed very tight at below one month.

Okotoks has not experienced such a tight market since 2006 and this is driving up prices. The benchmark prices for detached homes in January went up to $515,100, which is a significant increase when you look at December, and it is more than 8% higher than 2021.