"A pause on price gains": Calgary housing market to stabilize in 2023

The Calgary Real Estate Board (CREB) is out with their projection for the Calgary housing market in 2023, and things are expected to level out a bit.

According to the report, elevated lending rates are expected to slow down sales in 2023. However, this is after 2022 saw record-high sales numbers in Calgary, so the projection is still above pre-pandemic levels, it’s just not going to be as high as last year.

In the report, CREB Chief Economist Ann-Marie Lurie explains the reason for this.

“Higher commodity prices, recent job growth, record high migration, and relative affordability are expected to help offset some of the impacts higher lending rates are having on housing demand. At the same time, we are entering the year with low supply levels which are expected to prevent significant price declines in our market.”

By the end of 2022, we saw a steep decline in the number of houses available. It was down to the lowest level seen in over a decade. There were more high-priced houses available but the lower levels of the Calgary housing market saw a real drop that couldn’t be offset.

You might also like:
• Bank of Canada increases interest rate to 4.5%
• Rent in Calgary has gone up 30% from this time last year
• Home prices will drop steeply this year, forecasts TD economist

The report says that the lower-priced market is still a seller’s market while the upper levels are seeing a bit more of a balanced buyer’s market.

They say the shift between supply and sales by price ranges is expected to create interesting trends in prices depending on property type and price range. Overall, price declines in the upper end of the market are expected to offset gains reported in the lower ranges.

Lurie says this will lead to an overall decline in next year’s prices.

“With much of the pandemic behind us, 2023 reflects more of an adjustment into more typical conditions and a pause on price gains following 12 percent growth in 2022. While other markets in the country are forecasted to see more significant price and sale declines in 2023, Calgary did not face the same gains as those markets, as prices only recovered from the 2014 highs in 2021.”