Prices flat for a third month, but listings vanishing — Calgary was heading into autumn with less to buy than it had in years.
In September 2021, Calgary’s benchmark home price was $457,900 — down 0.3% from August but 8.6% above a year earlier. Sales held steady at 2,156 while inventory fell 7.4% on the month and 10.1% on the year to 5,619 homes, tightening supply to 2.6 months. A typical home took 44 days to sell. Detached homes were at $537,500, up 10%; apartment condos, at $253,200, were up just 1.2% with 4.7 months of supply.
September 2021 at a glance
Calgary spent September marking time on price and quietly running out of houses. The benchmark eased 0.3% to $457,900 — the third consecutive month of essentially no movement — while inventory fell to 5,619 homes, 10.1% below last September and the lowest level since the spring. Sales were flat at 2,156. The story of autumn 2021 was written in that inventory line: buyers weren’t disappearing, but the supply they were choosing from was.
Calgary prices over time
| Year | Benchmark price | Change on the year |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | $459,500 | — |
| 2015 | $448,800 | ▼ -2.3% |
| 2016 | $434,100 | ▼ -3.3% |
| 2017 | $433,200 | ▼ -0.2% |
| 2018 | $424,600 | ▼ -2% |
| 2019 | $415,900 | ▼ -2% |
| 2020 | $421,300 | ▲ +1.3% |
| 2021 (to September) | $457,900 | ▲ +8.7% |
Sales, listings and inventory
| Month | Sales | New listings | Inventory | Days on market | Benchmark |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 2020 | 1,763 | 2,460 | 5,818 | 53 | $422,600 |
| November 2020 | 1,437 | 1,727 | 5,020 | 55 | $423,300 |
| December 2020 | 1,199 | 1,172 | 3,672 | 59 | $421,300 |
| January 2021 | 1,207 | 2,250 | 4,038 | 57 | $422,900 |
| February 2021 | 1,831 | 2,850 | 4,521 | 45 | $430,100 |
| March 2021 | 2,903 | 4,440 | 5,422 | 35 | $440,900 |
| April 2021 | 3,205 | 4,675 | 6,077 | 33 | $450,400 |
| May 2021 | 2,981 | 4,562 | 6,789 | 32 | $454,800 |
| June 2021 | 2,914 | 4,134 | 6,920 | 34 | $457,900 |
| July 2021 | 2,314 | 3,298 | 6,682 | 40 | $459,700 |
| August 2021 | 2,146 | 2,823 | 6,065 | 42 | $459,200 |
| September 2021 | 2,156 | 2,906 | 5,619 | 44 | $457,900 |
The headline numbers
| Metric | September 2021 | vs prev month | vs last year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Benchmark price | $457,900 | ▼ -0.3% | ▲ +8.6% |
| Sales | 2,156 | ▲ +0.5% | ▲ +26.4% |
| New listings | 2,906 | ▲ +2.9% | ▲ +6.2% |
| Inventory | 5,619 | ▼ -7.4% | ▼ -10.1% |
| Days on market | 44 | ▲ +2 days | ▼ -10 days |
A look by property type
| Property type | Benchmark | vs last year | Sales | Days on mkt | Months of supply |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Detached | $537,500 | ▲ +10% | 1,264 | 36 | 2.0 |
| Semi-detached | $424,900 | ▲ +8.4% | 210 | 42 | 2.5 |
| Row / townhouse | $299,600 | ▲ +7.2% | 318 | 52 | 2.8 |
| Apartment condo | $253,200 | ▲ +1.2% | 364 | 65 | 4.7 |
Three flat months, and why they were misleading
From July through September the benchmark moved by 0.4%, -0.1% and -0.3% — a market apparently going nowhere. Anyone reading only the price line would have concluded Calgary had topped out.
Underneath, supply had tightened from 2.9 months to 2.6 and inventory had fallen three months running. Flat prices on shrinking supply is a coiled spring, not a plateau. What happens next depends entirely on whether buyers come back — and they did.
Days on market kept creeping up
One genuine caution: at 44 days, homes were taking eleven days longer to sell than in April. Sellers who had priced off spring comparables were sitting longer, and that gave buyers a little more room than the supply figure alone suggests.
The gap by type was stark. Detached homes sold in 36 days at 2 months of supply. Apartment condos took 65 days at 4.7 months. In practice these were two different markets sharing a city.
Condo price growth had stalled again
Apartment condos were up 1.2% year-over-year at $253,200, down from 5.1% growth back in June. After a brief improvement in the spring, the condo recovery had lost momentum, and the segment ended the third quarter close to where it started the year.
That wasn’t true of row homes, which held up at 7.2% year-over-year and $299,600. The middle of the market — townhouses and semi-detached — had genuinely re-rated in 2021. Apartment condos hadn’t.
What this meant if you were buying
September rewarded buyers who could act on thin stock. With inventory down 10% year-over-year, the good listings were getting attention quickly even while the average property sat for six weeks — the average was being dragged up by homes priced for a spring that had already passed.
The practical approach was to separate the two. A well-priced home needed a fast, clean, financed offer. An overpriced one that had sat for two months was a negotiation. Knowing which you were looking at mattered more than the market average.
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Source: CREB, September 2021 (City of Calgary geography). Prices shown are benchmark (HPI) values. Month-over-month compares to the prior month; year-over-year to the same month last year. The board may revise past months as late sales are recorded. Prepared by Mortgages for Less.
