Home buyers in Calgary moved to the sidelines in August compared to August 2023, taking sales to 2,186 homes last month, a 20% drop from August last year, which was a record for home sales for the month of August. Last month’s sales declines were driven by a drop in sales of homes priced below $600,000. Still, sales last month were 17% higher than long-term averages for the month, says Ann-Marie Lurie, chief economist of the Calgary Real Estate Board (CREB) in a media release on Tuesday. “Housing activity continues to move away from the extreme sellers’ market conditions experienced throughout the spring,” says Lurie. “Easing sales, combined with gains in supply, pushed the months of supply above two months in August, a level not seen since the end of 2022.” “As expected, rising new home construction and gains in new listings are starting to support a better-supplied housing market. This trend is expected to continue throughout the remainder of the year, but it’s important to note that supply levels remain low, especially for lower-priced properties.” “It will take time for supply levels to return to those that support more balanced conditions.” At the end of August there were 4,487 homes listed for sale in Calgary, as 3,536 new listings came on the market, representing a 37% increase over August last year, but still almost 25% lower than long-term trends for the month. “Higher-priced properties mostly drove the supply gains, as the most affordable homes in each property type continued to report supply declines,” says Lurie. “The supply gains were made possible by both an increase in new listings in August and a pullback in sales activity.” The pace of price growth in Calgary started to slow in August, with the aggregate unadjusted benchmark price reaching $601,800, still 6% higher than last year and slightly lower than last month. To the end of August, the average benchmark price rose by 9%. Here are Lurie’s market overviews by home type. Single-family Sales fell by 14% compared to last year, as gains in homes priced above $600,000 were not enough to offset declines in the lower price ranges, which continue to struggle with low supply levels. In August, there were 2,011 single-family homes available in inventory, with more than 85% priced at more than $600,000. The improving higher-end supply-compared-to-sales helped push the months of supply up to nearly two months. While market conditions are still tight, this is a significant improvement from the less-than-one-month supply experienced in the spring. Shifting conditions are relieving some pressure on home prices. In August, the unadjusted detached benchmark price was $762,600, slightly lower than last month but still more than 9% higher than last year. Semi-Detached With 297 new listings and 172 sales, the sales-to-new-listings ratio in August dropped to 58%, which is more consistent with pre-pandemic levels. This shift supported a rise in inventory levels and the months of supply rose to nearly two months. While conditions remain relatively tight, the boost in new listings has helped ease some of the pressure on prices. In August, the unadjusted benchmark price was $681,200, a decline from last month but nearly 10% higher than last year. Row/townhomes New listings rose for homes priced more than $400,000, contributing to year-to-date growth of nearly 16%. At the same time, slower sales over the past three months have contributed to inventory gains. In August, there were 660 units available, a 75% increase over the exceptionally low levels reported last year. While inventories are still low by historical standards, as with other property types, this shift is helping ease pressure on home prices. The unadjusted benchmark price in August was $461,700, slightly lower than last month but more than 12% higher than last August. Monthly adjustments were not consistent across districts, with adjustments in the City Centre, northwest, north, and west districts mostly driving monthly declines. Despite the monthly adjustments, year-over-year prices remain higher than last year across all districts and range from a low of 10% in the City Centre to a high of 26% in the east district. Apartment Condominium New listings in August reached 1,001 units, a record high for the month. The gains in new listings were met with a pullback in sales, causing the sales-to-new-listings ratio to drop to 60% and inventories to rise to 1,476 units. Unlike other property types, overall condominium inventory levels were relatively consistent with longer-term trends for the month. Rising inventory and easing sales caused the months of supply to increase to nearly two-and-a-half months, not as high as levels seen before the pandemic but an improvement over the extremely tight conditions seen over the past 18 months. In August, the unadjusted benchmark price was $346,500, similar to last month and nearly 16% higher than last year’s prices.
