Is Calgary a Buyer's Market? What the Numbers Say by Segment

TL;DR

The Calgary buyer's market is real, but only in parts of the city. Apartment condos sit near five months of supply. Prices there also remain well below the 2024 peak. Detached and luxury homes, however, are still close to balanced. Where you shop matters more than the headline.

Is Calgary Actually a Buyer's Market?

City-wide, no. Calgary is statistically balanced, with months of supply hovering around three to three and a half.

The sales-to-new-listings ratio also sits in the mid-50s, and composite benchmark prices are down only modestly year over year. Segment by segment, however, the answer flips. Headlines tend to flatten that distinction. It is also the part that decides whether you actually have leverage at the table.

I read the monthly CREB housing statistics the same way every month. Rarely has the divergence between property types been this wide.

The short version by property type

How the thresholds work

Months of supply is the cleanest signal. Under three months, sellers set the terms. Between three and four, conditions are broadly balanced. Above four, buyers gain real negotiating room. Above five, they can afford to be patient.

The sales-to-new-listings ratio then adds context. A ratio in the mid-50s means listings are being absorbed at a healthy rate. That is why the city-wide picture still reads as balanced.

Benchmark prices also matter more than averages. An average price moves whenever the mix of homes sold changes. The benchmark instead tracks a consistent property type, so it isolates genuine price movement.

What Do the Condo Numbers Show?

They show the sharpest correction in the city. Condo sales are down more than 20% year over year.

Inventory is meanwhile elevated. CREB housing statistics put benchmark prices more than 8% below last year, and roughly 13% below the 2024 peak.

Five months of supply is the number that matters. Buyers there get time to think and room to negotiate. They also gain the ability to walk away, which is the biggest advantage in any negotiation.

Still, the correction has been orderly rather than dramatic. Prices drifted down over several quarters instead of dropping suddenly. Sellers who priced to current comparables have therefore continued to transact. Those anchored to 2024 pricing are the ones sitting.

Not every condo is affected equally, either. Older buildings with high fees, deferred maintenance, or special assessments are absorbing most of the pressure. Buyers with choice avoid unpredictable carrying costs. Well-managed buildings in walkable inner-city locations have similarly held value far better.

Why Did Conditions Shift?

Supply arrived and demand normalized at the same time.

Both halves matter. Either one alone would have produced a much milder adjustment.

The supply side

Calgary posted record housing starts through 2025 and into early 2026, tracked in CMHC market reports. Those starts were heavily weighted toward apartments. Builders were responding to genuine demand when they broke ground. Construction takes years, however, so those units finished and listed well after conditions had changed.

The demand side

Higher borrowing costs then cooled buyer urgency. Interprovincial migration also normalized from its exceptional peak. Alberta still attracts more newcomers than any other province. I therefore read this as a pause rather than a reversal. Population growth continues; it simply stopped outrunning construction.

How Does the Rental Market Factor In?

It competes directly with resale condos, and that is easy to miss. CREB has been explicit on this point.

Increased rentals and new supply are weighing on ownership demand for resale condos. When investors hold completed units as rentals instead of listing them, those units still add supply. They add it to a different market. Rents softened as a result. Rentals.ca also reported Calgary posting the steepest annual rent decline among Canada's six largest markets, at 5.6%.

Falling rents change buyer psychology more than people expect. If renting gets cheaper while condo prices drift down, waiting costs very little. First-time buyers and investors consequently both slow down. That feedback loop explains much of why the condo segment has stayed buyer-favourable.

How Does This Look at the Luxury End?

Softer than the peak, though nothing like the condo correction. CREB counted roughly 6,800 active listings across Calgary.

Those span entry-level units through properties listed in the tens of millions. The averages show the spread clearly. In CREB figures, the average resale price across all homes sat near $572,500. Single-family homes averaged about $691,700, while condos averaged about $310,900. A substantial share of detached inventory therefore sits well above those figures.

High-end buyers also behave differently in a normalizing market. They are less sensitive to small rate movements. Instead, they are motivated by location, design, and timing. Luxury listings, however, are more exposed to long days on market, because the buyer pool is smaller.

Calgary's economic backdrop still supports the top of the market. Employment and nominal GDP growth remain solid, particularly through the energy sector. That demand base keeps high-end inventory moving. For buyers tracking this range, I keep current homes from $1M to $2.5M organized by price band.

What Does This Mean If You Are Buying?

You have more leverage than buyers here have had in years. Use it on terms, not only on price.

In practice, that means:

• Conditions are negotiable again. Financing and inspection conditions are far easier to include than two years ago.
• Selection is real. With elevated inventory, you can compare true comparables side by side.
• Time is on your side. Longer days on market let you view a property twice before deciding.
• Closing flexibility matters. Sellers carrying two properties will often trade on possession dates.

Luxury buyers, however, should note that this leverage is uneven. Detached homes in established inner-city communities have not corrected the way condos have. A well-priced home in a strong location still moves quickly. Patience therefore works differently at the top of the market. My Calgary buyer's market guide covers how I structure offers when segments diverge this much.

What Does This Mean If You Are Selling?

Pricing accuracy now decides your outcome. In a buyer-leaning market, an ambitious list price does not start a negotiation.

Rather, it removes you from consideration. Three things carry more weight than they did during the rush:

• Days on market compound. Buyers ask why a listing has sat, and the answer costs more than pricing correctly would have.
• Presentation separates comparable homes. When buyers have choice, condition decides which offer arrives first.
• Segment context beats city averages. A detached seller reading condo headlines will underprice a balanced-market home.

For sellers of higher-end properties, I would add one more point. Your buyer pool is smaller and more discerning. Therefore the marketing has to reach the right people, instead of simply reaching many people. Start with a free home evaluation so your list price reflects your segment.

How Long Will These Conditions Last?

Probably not long in historical terms, although longer in condos than elsewhere. Forecasters expect this phase to resolve rather than deepen.

The TD provincial housing outlook projects Alberta home sales falling 8.2% in 2026. That follows a 7.8% decline in 2025. Sales then rebound 5.8% in 2027. TD also expects Alberta prices to rise moderately, about 2.8% in 2026 and 3.9% in 2027.

CMHC research points the same direction. Prices stabilize in 2026, and modest growth returns as inventory is absorbed.

Two variables could still move that timeline. If mortgage rates fall faster than expected, condo demand recovers sooner. Conversely, if the economy weakens, buyer-favourable conditions spread further into detached segments.

Absorption is the number I watch most closely. New condo completions have finally started to slow. Inventory therefore has a chance to clear before the next wave of supply arrives. Notably, that shift usually shows up in months of supply first, well before benchmark prices respond. Anyone timing a purchase should track that figure monthly rather than watching price headlines.

What I Tell My Clients Right Now

Match your strategy to your segment, not to the headline. A condo buyer and a detached seller are operating in two different markets. Yet they read the same news.

If you are buying a condo or townhome, this is a genuinely favourable window. I would rather negotiate terms now than compete later. If you are selling detached, price to the segment data and move decisively. Your market never softened as much as the coverage suggests.

If you are moving between segments, the spread works in your favour. Many of my clients are doing exactly that. Selling detached into a balanced market while buying into a Calgary buyer's market is the most advantageous trade available right now.

Underneath all of it, the fundamentals have not broken. Calgary continues to attract people. Affordability also compares well against other major Canadian cities, and long-term demand remains intact. Ultimately, this is a market finding its footing after a fast expansion. The buyers who understand their segment are the ones who will do well in it.