The leaves are falling...but prices are not. September was another strong month for the Calgary real estate market. This month reached another record-high of 2,441 recorded sales. There were more new listings that came to market this month, which helped ease the sales-to-new-listings ratio back to 76%. This helped maintain the inventory levels but these new listings were not enough to pull us out of sellers' market territory. The number of properties for sale in September was still more than 24% lower than last year. Despite the rising interest rates, our real estate market has remained tight, largely due to strong inter-provincial migration and investor interest. The total residential benchmark price for September reached $570,300 - not too much change from last month but almost 9% higher than September of last year. Let's dive into the micro-markets of each property type.
DETACHED
Tight market conditions are here to stay for the detached home sector. Compared to last year, there were almost 19% more sales in September, but inventory levels are 25% lower than they were last year. Buyers looking for detached homes are still deep in sellers' market territory. This is especially true for buyers looking for homes under $700,000, where the inventory is sitting below one month of supply. On the other side of the fence, homes priced above $700,000 showed improvements in supply levels. The benchmark price stayed relatively similar to the previous month, sitting at $696,100. The East district, known as one of Calgary's more affordable districts saw a high price gain of 20% Y/Y, while the City Centre district saw a modest gain of 9%.
SEMI-DETACHED
For the first time in 10 months, the benchmark price of semi-detached homes pulled back (just a tad) in September. That being said, at $621,300, we are still over 11% higher than September 2022. This month, there was a boost in new listings which helped pull the sales-to-new-listings ratio below 70%. The new listings helped with sales activity as well. Compared to 2022, sales were higher by 26%. However, with only 295 units for sale, inventory levels for semi-detached homes were the lowest since September 2005.
ROWS & TOWNS
Monthly sales slowed down and helped ease the tight market conditions for townhomes in September. The sales-to-new-listings ratio fell to 84%, and while we are still in a very strong seller's market, this was a welcome improvement compared to the high S/NL ratio of 90% back in April. The supply & demand gap did narrow a tad but townhomes still have less than 1 month of supply. The tight market conditions pushed the benchmark price up to $419,400, a 1.5% monthly gain, and an almost 15% gain from last year.
APARTMENTS
The rising interest rates and strong rental market, the demand for apartment-style condos keeps growing. Purchasers & investors alike are turning toward this more affordable product type. Improvement in new listings in September helped support the record-high sales this month. There were 706 recorded sales in September, a 57% increase compared to last September. Inventory levels saw a modest gain but with only 1.5 months of supply in the market, the market still favours the sellers and continues to put upward pressure on pricing. The benchmark price for apartments this month rose to $312,800, a 1.2% gain from August, and almost 15% higher than last year.
Calgary's real estate market is grabbing the attention of people across the country. I, myself have had a bunch of inquiries from out-of-province prospects. It seems that the tight market conditions will be around for a while across all property types. Sifting through these stats packages, the general trend compared to last year is that sales are going up but inventory levels keep dwindling and cannot keep up with the growing demand.
Source: creb.com
