For anyone that was trying to buy a home in the spring of 2024, you may remember your realtor telling you to ‘get ready for battle’. Nearly every home (and condo!) was being sold in competing offers within the first few days on the market. There was virtually no inventory and prices were going up every week.
The second half of 2024 was a different story with some cooling in the market and buyers starting to feel more power in the negotiations.
As the first quarter of 2025 comes to a close, we are looking back at three months that have seen wild stock market swings, news headlines that are more outrageous by the week and an upcoming federal election with results that are too close to call.
Some would think that this would put a serious damper into our real estate market but Calgary has so far proven quite resilient.
We are not in the manic market of last spring but we are seeing a little pickup right now in both sales and prices.
Detached benchmark prices are up 3.0% since the end of 2024 and apartment prices are up 1.1%. Sure, these aren’t huge numbers, but they are numbers in the positive. Other cities in Canada are seeing prices falling and stagnant sales.
Overall we are seeing home sellers and buyers making measured decisions based on their life situations, not as much of the opportunistic or high-pressure buying that we saw last year.
Buyers are savvy and know what they want so some houses (especially in the detached market) are still seeing competing offers but the average property is selling 0.5%-2% below asking price right now, compared to an average of 1%-3% above asking price last March.
Making predictions for the rest of 2025 is a challenge but we can speak to the conditions right now, which are still strong but closer to a balanced market than we have seen for about four years.
As usual, the lower price ranges of each market category (detached, semi-detached, row and apartment) are seeing the tightest market conditions, however we are seeing some move-up buyers take advantage of lower interest rates and get into a larger, long-term home. The rental market softening makes renting easier and takes some buyers out of the condo market, which is why apartments are over 3 months of inventory and the other categories are all closer to 2 months.
As always, we can provide community-specific stats packages or any other details you are looking for as you make your decisions for the year ahead.
If you’ve been waiting for the window of opportunity as a buyer, sitting on the fence or not interested in getting involved in the bidding wars and pressured decisions of the last few years, with more properties to choose from – now may be your time.
