A year that peaked in May, corrected for seven months, and still finished 11.8% ahead — with condos the unlikely winner.
Calgary closed 2022 with a benchmark home price of $518,800 — down 0.3% in December and 5% below the May peak of $546,000, but still 11.8% higher than December 2021. December sales fell 30.9% year-over-year to 1,201 as inventory dropped to 2,222 homes, leaving 1.9 months of supply. A typical home sold in 46 days. Over the full year, apartment condos rose 9% to $274,800 while detached homes gained 13.2% to $619,600.
December 2022 at a glance
Calgary finished 2022 with the benchmark at $518,800 — 11.8% higher than a year earlier, despite seven consecutive months of decline from the May peak. That combination captures the year precisely: an extraordinary first five months, then a long, shallow adjustment that never came close to erasing them. December sales fell to 1,201 and inventory to 2,222 homes, leaving supply at 1.9 months going into the new year.
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 | $518,800 | ▲ +11.8% |
Sales, listings and inventory
| Month | Sales | New listings | Inventory | Days on market | Benchmark |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2022 | 2,004 | 2,474 | 2,627 | 44 | $495,300 |
| February 2022 | 3,293 | 4,651 | 3,607 | 25 | $522,900 |
| March 2022 | 4,091 | 5,492 | 4,389 | 20 | $537,400 |
| April 2022 | 3,399 | 4,585 | 4,874 | 22 | $544,300 |
| May 2022 | 3,063 | 4,297 | 5,214 | 25 | $546,000 |
| June 2022 | 2,839 | 4,055 | 5,404 | 27 | $543,900 |
| July 2022 | 2,249 | 3,178 | 5,343 | 31 | $539,900 |
| August 2022 | 2,133 | 2,718 | 4,783 | 35 | $531,800 |
| September 2022 | 1,894 | 2,626 | 4,461 | 39 | $527,400 |
| October 2022 | 1,857 | 2,174 | 3,889 | 40 | $523,900 |
| November 2022 | 1,642 | 1,611 | 3,116 | 40 | $520,200 |
| December 2022 | 1,201 | 1,032 | 2,222 | 46 | $518,800 |
The headline numbers
| Metric | December 2022 | vs prev month | vs last year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Benchmark price | $518,800 | ▼ -0.3% | ▲ +11.8% |
| Sales | 1,201 | ▼ -26.9% | ▼ -30.9% |
| New listings | 1,032 | ▼ -35.9% | ▼ -16.1% |
| Inventory | 2,222 | ▼ -28.7% | ▼ -14.8% |
| Days on market | 46 | ▲ +6 days | ▼ -1 day |
A look by property type
| Property type | Benchmark | vs last year | Sales | Days on mkt | Months of supply |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Detached | $619,600 | ▲ +13.2% | 615 | 46 | 1.7 |
| Semi-detached | $563,000 | ▲ +30.2% | 87 | 43 | 2.6 |
| Row / townhouse | $358,300 | ▲ +19.4% | 188 | 43 | 1.5 |
| Apartment condo | $274,800 | ▲ +9% | 311 | 49 | 2.1 |
The year in two halves
January through May: the benchmark rose from $463,900 to $546,000, a gain of 17.7% in five months. Sales set a record in March at 4,091. Detached homes sold in 14 days in February. It was the most intense stretch Calgary’s market has recorded.
June through December: prices fell every month, by a cumulative 5%. Sales fell from 2,839 in June to 1,201 in December. But inventory fell too, from 5,404 to 2,222, so supply never loosened past 2.4 months. The correction ran out of room before it ran its course.
Calgary against the rest of the country
2022 was a severe year for Canadian housing in aggregate, with several major markets recording double-digit declines from their peaks. Calgary’s peak-to-December decline was 5%.
Two things insulated the city. Prices here had lagged for years before 2021, so the run-up started from a lower base and had less froth to give back. And Alberta was gaining people rapidly through interprovincial migration, which kept demand underpinned even as borrowing costs rose.
Condos were the year’s quiet winner
Apartment condos rose 9% over 2022 to $274,800. Two years earlier the segment had over seven months of supply and falling prices; it ended 2022 at 2.1 months, having risen in a year when the overall market declined from its peak.
This was entirely an affordability story. Every increase in rates pushed another cohort of buyers down a rung, and the bottom rung was the only one with capacity to absorb them.
What this meant going into the new year
Calgary entered 2023 with 2,222 homes for sale — even fewer than the 2,608 it had entering 2022, which had preceded a 6.8% price jump in a single month. Demand was much weaker, so a repeat was unlikely, but the supply constraint was, if anything, worse.
For anyone buying, the useful framing was that Calgary’s problem was never a price bubble — it was a shortage. Shortages don’t resolve through waiting. If you could qualify comfortably and intended to stay several years, the supply data argued against sitting out.
Frequently asked questions
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Source: CREB, December 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.
