While sales and the number of new listings entering the market have improved as expected this February, inventory levels continue to stagnate making conditions difficult for prospective buyers. With just 2,750 homes available for sale in Calgary, inventory is at its lowest level for the month of February since 2006.
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Number of Sales and New Listings are Still Far From Last Year’s Record Highs
There were 1,740 sales in February and 2,389 new listings, up 45.1% and 29% respectively. On a month-over-month basis, these numbers are improving and signaling more interest in the market, however, compared to last year’s record highs, sales are down 47.2%, while new listings are down by 48.6%.
Demand for row houses has significantly grown. There were 315 sales in February of this property type, an increase of 50.7% from January. It’s the largest increase of any property type this month. While the figures are still down year-over-year – sales numbers are down 41.2% compared to February 2022 – demand is still relatively strong as the interest for more affordable property types continues to grow due to higher borrowing costs.
Row Houses For Sale in Calgary
Growing Demand and Tight Inventory Driving Price Growth
With inventory numbers still below long-term trends and demand growing as the Spring market approaches, home prices are on the rise. Prices for each home type have not only trended up month-over-month but are also up compared to 2022 as well. The total residential benchmark price is $530,900, a 1.5% increase year-over-year, and a 1.9% increase month-over-month. Prices of each property type have also increased compared to last year’s figures, with the biggest improvement in condo apartments and row prices. The average price of a condo apartment is up 11.3% to $286,000, and row prices are up 9.1% to $369,700. The more affordable property types are seeing more action, and prices are likely to continue rising if both the demand and lack of inventory remain.
Sales Numbers are Improving Across Local Markets
Prices in the local markets are up, as the tight supply means demand is pushing buyers into forking out a little more to secure a home. Prices in Airdrie grew 2.6% month-over-month, but also suffered a minor dip of 0.2% year-over-year.
Sales are up in Airdrie, Cochrane, and Okotoks since January. There were 100 sales in Airdrie, 55 in Cochrane, and 45 in Okotoks, up 19%, 2.8%, and 60.7% respectively. Okotoks is the only city of the three that has experienced an improvement in inventory levels, as the rest of the cities wrestle with record-low figures. There were 56 homes available in Okotoks at the end of the month, an increase of 5.6% from January.
