Thanks to steep pullbacks in the apartment condominium sector, total residential sales in Calgary eased by 17 per cent compared to May of last year. While the drop does seem significant, the 2,568 sales this month remain 11 per cent higher than long-term trends for May and improved over last month.
New listings continued to rise this month compared to sales, resulting in further gains in inventory levels. However, the monthly gain in both inventory and sales prevented any significant change in the months of supply compared to April. With 2.6 months of supply, conditions are still relatively balanced.
“Compared to last year, easing sales and rising inventories are consistent trends across many cities, as uncertainty continues to weigh on housing demand. 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,” said Ann-Marie Lurie, Chief Economist at CREB®. “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.”
Last year there was limited inventory across most property types and price ranges. 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. Both detached and semi-detached home prices have remained relatively stable this month and are still higher than last year’s levels. Meanwhile, row and apartment style homes have reported modest monthly price declines and May prices remain below last year’s levels, as improved new home and rental supply is weighing on resale prices. Overall, the total residential unadjusted benchmark price in Calgary was $589,900, slightly lower than last month and over two per cent below May 2024 levels.
Airdrie
While improving over last month, May sales eased compared to last year, contributing to the year-to-date decline of 10 per cent. However, the 772 sales so far this year are consistent with long-term trends in Airdrie. At the same time new listings continue to rise causing the sales-to-new listings ratio to fall to 58 per cent, still well within balanced conditions, but a significant change from the over 90 per cent ratio reported last year. Recent shifts in sales and new listings have supported gains in inventory levels. In May there were 468 units in inventory, reflecting the highest May reported since prior to the pandemic.
The shift in supply is in part related to the surge in new construction providing more options for potential consumers. Additional supply choice is impacting price growth. The total residential benchmark price was $540,600 in May, down nearly one per cent over last month and nearly two per cent below last year’s levels.
Cochrane
Sales in Cochrane were fairly resilient until this month, where sales were 17 per cent slower than last year. The decline was enough to cause year-to-date sales to ease to levels just below those reported last year. At the same time, this month new listings surged, driving the sales-to-new listings ratio down to 55 per cent and supporting further inventory gains. With 293 units available in May, levels are more consistent with long-term trends. The months of supply neared three months in May and while this did slow the pace of price growth, the total residential benchmark price of $589,400 is still nearly four per cent higher than last May.
Okotoks
A boost in new listings this month supported a surge in sales activity. However, with a sales-to-new-listings ratio of 74%, inventory levels did not change much over last month and the months of supply once again dropped below two months. Okotoks has struggled to add supply at the pace reported in Calgary, Cochrane and Airdrie and sales growth has been dampened by limited supply choice. While there have been some improvements in inventory levels, as of May levels remained nearly 28 per cent below long-term trends for the city. The limited supply choice given the relatively strong demand has continue to support some price growth in the town. As of May the unadjusted benchmark price was $633,900, up over last month and over two per cent higher than last year.
Read the full release here www.creb.com/News/Media_Releases/2025/June/May_2025_stats/ and connect with me for more about the real estate market in and around Calgary. Join me on Facebook and Google for the latest in real estate news!