Prices at an eleven-month high, but homes taking longer to sell for the first time since winter — the spring peak was behind us.
In June 2021, Calgary’s benchmark home price was $457,900 — up 0.7% from May and 11.4% from a year earlier, the strongest annual gain of the year so far. Sales eased to 2,914 and a typical home took 34 days to sell, two days longer than May and the first increase since January. Inventory held at 6,920 homes, or 2.4 months of supply. Detached homes reached $537,200, up 13.1% year-over-year, while apartment condos at $253,000 were up just 5.1%.
June 2021 at a glance
June brought Calgary’s strongest year-over-year price gain of 2021 — the benchmark up 11.4% to $457,900 — alongside the first sign that the pace was turning. Homes took 34 days to sell, two days longer than May, breaking a run of five consecutive months of faster sales. Sales eased slightly to 2,914 and new listings fell 9.4%. Nothing dramatic, but after a spring in which every indicator pointed the same way, June was the month a few started pointing the other.
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 June) | $457,900 | ▲ +8.7% |
Sales, listings and inventory
| Month | Sales | New listings | Inventory | Days on market | Benchmark |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2020 | 1,835 | 3,021 | 6,621 | 53 | $418,000 |
| August 2020 | 1,574 | 2,577 | 6,495 | 52 | $419,800 |
| September 2020 | 1,706 | 2,736 | 6,248 | 54 | $421,700 |
| 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 |
The headline numbers
| Metric | June 2021 | vs prev month | vs last year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Benchmark price | $457,900 | ▲ +0.7% | ▲ +11.4% |
| Sales | 2,914 | ▼ -2.2% | ▲ +65.3% |
| New listings | 4,134 | ▼ -9.4% | ▲ +23.9% |
| Inventory | 6,920 | ▲ +1.9% | ▲ +7.6% |
| Days on market | 34 | ▲ +2 days | ▼ -21 days |
A look by property type
| Property type | Benchmark | vs last year | Sales | Days on mkt | Months of supply |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Detached | $537,200 | ▲ +13.1% | 1,818 | 27 | 1.8 |
| Semi-detached | $427,000 | ▲ +11.2% | 243 | 37 | 2.4 |
| Row / townhouse | $299,300 | ▲ +9% | 411 | 39 | 2.7 |
| Apartment condo | $253,000 | ▲ +5.1% | 442 | 55 | 4.4 |
Peak intensity, not peak prices
It’s worth separating two things that often get conflated. The intensity of the market — how fast homes sell, how many buyers per listing — peaked in April at 33 days on market. Prices kept climbing after that, and would keep climbing for a while yet.
That is the normal sequence. Competition eases first, prices follow later, and there is usually a lag of months between the two. A buyer in June 2021 was looking at a slightly calmer market at slightly higher prices.
Thirteen percent in a year for detached homes
The detached benchmark reached $537,200, up 13.1% year-over-year — the fastest annual growth of any Calgary property type that year. In dollar terms that’s roughly $62,000 added to a typical detached house in twelve months, against 1.8 months of supply and 27 days on market.
The affordability consequence was direct. A buyer needing 5% down on a typical detached home needed about $3,100 more in down payment than a year earlier, and a larger mortgage to go with it — before accounting for the higher income needed to qualify for the bigger loan.
Condos finally started to move
Apartment condos rose 5.1% year-over-year to $253,000 — modest against detached, but the strongest annual gain condos had posted all year, and a real change from the 0.4% decline back in January. Supply had eased from 7.1 months to 4.4 over six months.
Row homes told a similar story: $299,300, up 9% year-over-year, with 2.7 months of supply. As detached homes ran away from the middle of the market, buyers who couldn’t follow were beginning to look at what was left, and that demand was slowly reaching the more affordable segments.
What this meant if you were buying
June was a reasonable month to be a patient buyer, particularly outside the detached segment. Two extra days on market doesn’t sound like much, but the direction had changed, and buyers who had spent the spring losing bidding wars found slightly more room.
The practical advice hadn’t changed: know your qualifying amount before you shop, keep your financing condition unless you genuinely understand what removing it exposes you to, and compare what your payment looks like across a few different rate and term combinations rather than fixating on the lowest advertised number.
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Source: CREB, June 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.
