Calgary's real estate market sees strong January sales, new home listings increase

Calgary's housing market saw 1,650 homes sold in January — a 37.7 per cent increase year over year — which the Calgary Real Estate Board calls a "significant gain" compared with long-term trends.

CREB's latest monthly report, released Thursday, credits the growth to a rise in new listings. Over 2,100 were listed, with the largest jump in detached homes priced above $700,000.

Ann-Marie Lurie, the board's chief economist, said activity in the higher-priced listings was expected. However, the January real estate market also saw listings grow for condos priced above $300,000.

"There was a little bit more listing growth happening in the lower end of the market, which was a bit more of a surprise as compared to last year," she said.

Listings of all product types — detached, semi-detached, row and apartment — improved.

Lurie said that while this is typical when comparing January to December, the year-over-year gains were a notable change.

But market tightness impacted home prices yet again throughout last month.

The unadjusted benchmark price for a home hit $572,300, up 10 per cent from January 2023.

Homes listed in the west and northwest regions of the city saw the largest year-over-year price increases.

Conditions still favour the seller

But supply issues persisted — and the CREB economist says Calgary is still "absolutely" a seller's market.

"What we're seeing is that because the listings came on, so did the sales. So the sales really responded because there were people who were really just waiting for some supply choice," she said.

Calgary's low inventory remained a challenge in January that even "the rise in new listings relative to sales did little to change," the report states.

"Inventories are still half of the levels we traditionally see in the market," Lurie said. "Because of that, the months of supply still remain well under two months, and that's driving further price growth."

Inventory levels for January were near 2006 level "record lows" at nearly 49 per cent below the long-term average, according to CREB's report.

But Lurie says sales could remain strong in Calgary's real estate market throughout the rest of 2024.

"We've had pretty strong sales activity despite the fact that we have had higher interest rates," she said.

"That tells me that even if there's some concern over some slowing economic conditions, well, that drop in rates should help continue to support stronger demand throughout the second half of the year as well."