Home sales in Calgary backed off 17% in May compared to May 2024, driven by apartment condominiums and townhomes, according to Ann-Marie Lurie, chief economist at the Calgary Real Estate Board (CREB). In a press release, Lurie said, “While the drop does seem significant, the 2,568 sales in May (were) 11% higher than long-term trends for May and improved over last month.” Sales in April reached 2,236 homes. The supply of homes listed for sale increased, with new listings rising again in May. “However, the monthly gain in both inventory and sales prevented any significant change in the months of supply compared to April,” said Lurie. “With 2.6 months of supply, conditions are still relatively balanced.” May's results are not similar to other large Canadian markets, added Lurie. “Compared to last year, easing sales and rising inventories are consistent trends across many cities, as uncertainty continues to weigh on housing demand,” she said. “However, prior to the economic uncertainty, Calgary was dealing with seller market conditions and the recent pullbacks in sales and inventory have helped shift us toward balanced conditions taking the pressure off prices.” “This is a different situation from some of the other larger cities, where their housing markets were struggling prior to the addition of economic uncertainty.” .The supply of homes for sale varies by district, said Lurie. “Recent inventory gains are creating pockets of the market that are struggling with too much supply while in other areas supply levels are still low relative to the demand, resulting in divergent trends in home prices,” she said. “Both detached and semi-detached home prices have remained relatively stable this month and are still higher than last year’s levels, while townhomes and apartments have seen modest monthly price declines, with May prices below last year’s levels, due to improved new home and rental supply weighing on resale prices.” The market-wide, unadjusted benchmark price in Calgary was $589,900, slightly lower than April and 2% below May last year. Here are Lurie's overviews of homes by category. Single-family New listings in May rose to 2,419 units, with gains driven by homes priced over $600,000. Sales slowed across most price ranges, creating more balanced conditions and relative stability in prices. Some districts are seeing a larger pullback in demand due to new homes and are starting to show some signs of elevated supply. .The largest drop in sales is in the northeast, which, when combined with high gains in new listings, has driven the sales-to-new listings ratio down to 41% and nearly four months of supply is causing prices to ease. City-wide the unadjusted benchmark price in May was $769,400, similar to April. Semi-Detached Sales reached 256 in May, with 428 new listings, taking the sales-to-new-listings ratio up to 60%. The months of supply was just above two months. The category accounted for less than 10% sales and inventory levels in the city, due in part to construction patterns shifting toward more row-style properties over semi-detached and is one of the reasons we do not see the same inventory build up as row and apartment-style homes. In April the unadjusted benchmark price was $697,300, nearly 3% higher than last year’s levels and above last year’s seasonal peak. .Row\townhomes Sales have eased over last year’s near record high pace but stayed well above long-term trends, with a gain in new listings increasing inventory. For the second month in a row, inventory levels were over 1,000 units; we have not seen this much inventory for row units since 2021. Most areas of Calgary have reported higher year-over-year pullbacks in resale prices, as improved supply choice for new properties are impacting resale activity. The benchmark price in May was $453,600, down from April and 2% below last May. Apartment Condominiums Sales in May were down significantly year-over-year, reaching 579 units last month compared to last May’s record high of 907 units. New listings were lower than last year, but were high compared to sales, taking the sales-to-new listings ratio down to 47% this. This contributed to further inventory gains and drove the months of supply up to 3.6 months. High levels of apartment rental units under construction are adding to the rental supply and contributing to rent adjustments. This is likely slowing condo ownership demand from existing renters and potential investors, contributing to some of the shifts witnessed in the apartment condominium sector. In May, the benchmark price eased to $335,300, down from April and slightly lower than last year. The steepest declines are occurring in the northeast and southeast districts, where competition from the new home market is weighing on resale pricing. While prices have eased and are below peak levels, recent declines have not offset the double-digit gains reported over the past two years.
