May Housing Market Update

Calgary home sales remain robust despite supply shortages in lower price ranges

June 3, 2024

Resilient Sales with a Slight Dip | May saw 3,092 resale home sales, which is nearly 1% below last year's record but 34% higher than long-term trends for May. The slight dip in sales is mainly due to fewer lower-priced detached and semi-detached homes available.

Shift Towards Higher-Priced Homes | While new listings increased by almost 19% to 4,333 units, much of this growth was in higher price ranges. This led to a decline in sales of lower-priced homes due to limited supply options.

Modest Inventory Gains and Seller's Market | The increase in new listings relative to sales caused the sales-to-new listings ratio to drop to 71%, leading to a slight year-over-year inventory gain. However, overall inventory levels are still about half of what is typical for May, and the market continues to favor sellers with just one month of supply.

Price Growth Across the City | Seller market conditions have driven price growth across all city districts. The unadjusted total residential benchmark price in May reached $605,300, which is nearly 1% higher than last month and 10% higher than May of the previous year.

Housing Market Facts

Detached | The gain in detached sales for homes priced over $700,000 was not enough to offset pullbacks across the lower price ranges, as year-over-year sales declined by seven per cent. At the same time, new listings rose enough to cause the sales-to-new-listings ratio to drop to 68 per cent, supporting inventory growth. However, inventory levels for homes priced below $600,000 continued to fall, accounting for only 13 per cent of the detached market.

With just over one month of supply, the detached market continues to favour the seller, and prices continue to rise. As of May, the unadjusted benchmark price reached $761,800, over one per cent higher than last month and 13 per cent higher than prices reported last year. Prices improved across all districts, with the most significant year-over-year gains occurring in the most affordable districts.

Semi-Detached | The year-over-year decline in sales did not offset earlier gains, as year-to-date sales rose by nearly 11 per cent. Like the detached sector, we have also seen improved levels of new listings come onto the market, causing the sales-to-new listings ratio to drop to 72 per cent and driving some gains in inventory levels.

Nonetheless, the market continues to favour the seller with one month of supply. The persistently tight market conditions continue to drive up prices. The benchmark price reached $678,000 in May, over one per cent higher than last month and 13 per cent higher than last May.

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