Calgary Housing Market Update: March 2023
Prices up for a second month, homes selling in under four weeks, and inventory more than a quarter below where it was a year ago.
In March 2023, Calgary’s benchmark home price was $535,100 — up 1.6% from February, though still 0.4% below March 2022. Sales rose 39.6% on the month to 2,424, while inventory reached 3,235 homes, 26.3% below last March. Supply tightened to 1.3 months and a typical home sold in 27 days, six days faster than February. Row homes were tightest at 1.0 months of supply; apartment condos, at $279,100, were up 5.2% year-over-year.
March 2023 at a glance
By March, Calgary’s brief correction was firmly in the rear-view mirror. The benchmark rose 1.6% to $535,100 and sales climbed 39.6% on the month to 2,424. Homes were selling in 27 days, down from 42 in January. The reason remained the same: inventory of 3,235 homes was 26.3% below last March, and supply had tightened to 1.3 months. Buyers had come back to a market with materially less to offer them than a year earlier.
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% |
| 2023 (to March) | $535,100 | ▲ +3.1% |
Sales, listings and inventory
| Month | Sales | New listings | Inventory | Days on market | Benchmark |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| January 2023 | 1,198 | 1,852 | 2,451 | 42 | $516,300 |
| February 2023 | 1,737 | 2,386 | 2,747 | 33 | $526,500 |
| March 2023 | 2,424 | 3,314 | 3,235 | 27 | $535,100 |
The headline numbers
| Metric | March 2023 | vs prev month | vs last year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Benchmark price | $535,100 | ▲ +1.6% | ▼ -0.4% |
| Sales | 2,424 | ▲ +39.6% | ▼ -40.7% |
| New listings | 3,314 | ▲ +38.9% | ▼ -39.7% |
| Inventory | 3,235 | ▲ +17.8% | ▼ -26.3% |
| Days on market | 27 | ▼ -6 days | ▲ +7 days |
A look by property type
| Property type | Benchmark | vs last year | Sales | Days on mkt | Months of supply |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Detached | $648,700 | ▲ +1.6% | 1,141 | 26 | 1.4 |
| Semi-detached | $577,600 | ▲ +0.9% | 217 | 29 | 1.3 |
| Row / townhouse | $370,200 | ▲ +5.3% | 387 | 21 | 1.0 |
| Apartment condo | $279,100 | ▲ +5.2% | 679 | 32 | 1.5 |
1.3 months of supply, and what that does
At 1.3 months, the entire Calgary market would clear in about five and a half weeks if nothing new were listed. Well-priced homes attract several offers at that level, and buyers who need time to arrange financing lose out to buyers who don’t.
It also inverts the usual advice. In a balanced market you shop, compare, and negotiate. At 1.3 months you prepare completely first, then move quickly when something suitable appears — because the comparing has to happen before the listing goes live, not after.
The market had fully round-tripped
At $535,100 the benchmark was within half a percent of where it stood in March 2022, at the height of the boom. Calgary had risen 17.7% in five months, fallen 5.4% over eight, and then recovered almost all of it in three.
The lesson for anyone timing a purchase is how short the window was. The bottom lasted a matter of weeks and was only identifiable afterwards. Buyers who waited for confirmation that prices had stopped falling paid more than those who bought during the uncertainty.
Row homes were the tightest segment in the city
Row homes sat at 1.0 months of supply with 21 days on market and a benchmark of $370,200, up 5.3% year-over-year. That was tighter than detached at 1.4 months.
The pattern had been consistent since rates started rising: affordability drives where the competition is. With detached homes at $648,700, the townhouse market absorbed buyers who could no longer reach that level, and the resulting pressure made it the hardest segment in Calgary to buy in.
What this meant if you were buying
March required genuine readiness. A pre-approval with documents already reviewed, a clear qualifying number, and a lender who could turn around a commitment quickly were the practical requirements for competing.
It’s also worth being realistic about what you’re competing for. In a 1.3-month market, the homes that sit are usually sitting for a reason — condition, location, or price. The ones that move are contested. Budgeting for an inspection on a property you may not win is part of the cost of buying in a market like that.
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Source: CREB, March 2023 (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.
