The biggest one-month price move in years, detached supply under a month, and a market that spent all winter coiled and finally released.
In January 2022, Calgary’s benchmark home price was $495,300 — up 6.8% from December in a single month, and 17.1% above a year earlier. 2,004 homes sold, up 66% on the year, while inventory stayed near record lows at 2,627 homes, 34.9% below last January. That left 1.3 months of supply, and only 0.8 months for detached homes at a $583,500 benchmark. A typical home sold in 44 days, though detached houses took just 33.
January 2022 at a glance
Calgary’s benchmark price rose 6.8% in January 2022 — more than it had moved in the entire second half of 2021 combined. The month began with 2,608 homes on the market, the thinnest inventory in memory, and even though 2,474 new listings arrived, buyers absorbed them almost immediately: inventory finished at 2,627, essentially unchanged, and 34.9% below last January. Detached homes were down to 0.8 months of supply. This is what happens when a shortage that has been building quietly for four months meets a burst of demand.
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 | $463,900 | ▲ +10.1% |
| 2022 (to January) | $495,300 | ▲ +6.8% |
Sales, listings and inventory
| Month | Sales | New listings | Inventory | Days on market | Benchmark |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| October 2021 | 2,184 | 2,501 | 4,875 | 43 | $460,100 |
| November 2021 | 2,108 | 1,999 | 3,932 | 47 | $461,000 |
| December 2021 | 1,737 | 1,230 | 2,608 | 47 | $463,900 |
| January 2022 | 2,004 | 2,474 | 2,627 | 44 | $495,300 |
The headline numbers
| Metric | January 2022 | vs prev month | vs last year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Benchmark price | $495,300 | ▲ +6.8% | ▲ +17.1% |
| Sales | 2,004 | ▲ +15.4% | ▲ +66% |
| New listings | 2,474 | ▲ +101.1% | ▲ +10% |
| Inventory | 2,627 | ▲ +0.7% | ▼ -34.9% |
| Days on market | 44 | ▼ -3 days | ▼ -13 days |
A look by property type
| Property type | Benchmark | vs last year | Sales | Days on mkt | Months of supply |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Detached | $583,500 | ▲ +18.6% | 1,146 | 33 | 0.8 |
| Semi-detached | $527,700 | ▲ +34.7% | 198 | 35 | 1.2 |
| Row / townhouse | $321,700 | ▲ +14.9% | 305 | 58 | 1.4 |
| Apartment condo | $253,100 | ▲ +3.2% | 355 | 71 | 3.0 |
Why the jump came all at once
Through the autumn of 2021, Calgary’s supply tightened every single month while prices barely moved. That gap couldn’t hold. Benchmark indexes are smoothed and lag the deals actually being negotiated, so when the adjustment came it arrived compressed into a few weeks rather than spread across the quarter it belonged to.
There was a second force pushing buyers to act. The Bank of Canada had signalled that its policy rate — held near zero since the start of the pandemic — would start rising in 2022. Anyone holding a rate hold from late 2021 had a strong incentive to use it, and a deadline to do so.
Detached at 0.8 months of supply
The detached benchmark reached $583,500, up 18.6% year-over-year, with 1,146 sales and 0.8 months of supply. At that level there is effectively nothing on the market: the entire detached inventory would clear in about three and a half weeks at January’s pace.
Homes were selling in 33 days on average, but that average is doing a lot of work — it includes listings that had been sitting since the autumn. Well-priced detached homes were going in days, frequently with several offers.
Condos still hadn’t joined in
Apartment condos rose 3.2% year-over-year to $253,100 — statistically flat, and almost exactly where they had been twelve months earlier. With 3 months of supply and 71 days on market, condos remained the one part of Calgary where a buyer could take their time.
The gap was now extreme. A typical detached house cost $583,500 and a typical apartment condo $253,100 — a difference of more than $330,000, up from about $247,000 a year before. For buyers being pushed out of the detached market, that gap was increasingly the whole story.
What this meant if you were buying
January 2022 was a difficult month to buy well, and an important one to be prepared for. Two things were moving against buyers at once: prices rising quickly, and borrowing costs about to rise. Either alone reduces what you can afford; together they compound.
The practical step was locking a rate. A pre-approval typically holds a rate for 90 to 120 days, which protects you against increases during that window while you shop. It does not protect you against rising prices — but in a month when the benchmark moved 6.8%, having one of the two variables fixed was worth a great deal.
Frequently asked questions
Rates heading up and prices climbing?
A rate hold fixes one of the two variables while you shop. Let’s get your pre-approval sorted.
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Source: CREB, January 2022 (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.
