Calgary Condo Market 2026

CREB's September and October 2026 apartment numbers

The Calgary Real Estate Board's monthly reports show apartments diverging from the rest of the market through 2026. In September, apartment sales were 343, about 14% lower than a year earlier. New apartment listings were 717, giving a sales-to-new-listings ratio of 48%, and months of supply rose just above five. The unadjusted apartment benchmark was $291,400, down more than 1% from August and more than 8% from September 2025.

October continued the trend. CREB reported 1,592 total sales across all home types, down 15.3% from October 2025, and a total residential benchmark of $564,200, down only 0.35%. The detached benchmark was $735,100, down about 1%. The apartment benchmark was $288,800, down 8%. Citywide months of supply was 3.88.

Those numbers describe two markets in one city. Detached homes are close to balanced: prices are roughly flat and supply is under four months. Apartments are in buyer's-market territory with more than five months of supply and prices falling 8% a year. CREB's chief economist attributed this to the construction boom, which delivered mostly higher-density apartments and row homes.

How far Calgary apartments rose, and how far they have fallen

Calgary's apartment market had one of the strangest decades of any Canadian housing segment. The CREA MLS HPI apartment benchmark for Calgary, which is seasonally adjusted and so differs slightly from CREB's unadjusted number, was $256,000 in March 2016. It then fell for four years as the oil downturn hit the city: $247,900 in September 2017, $238,400 in September 2019 and $233,400 in September 2020. A Calgary condo bought in 2016 was worth less in 2021.

Then the market turned. With interprovincial migration surging and Calgary condos priced at a fraction of Toronto or Vancouver units, the apartment benchmark rose to $268,600 in September 2022, $306,900 in September 2023 and $347,100 in September 2024. It peaked at $348,300 in August 2024, up 46% from September 2019 in five years.

The decline since has been steady. The benchmark was $324,500 in September 2025, $309,600 in March 2026 and $304,900 in September 2026. That is 6.0% lower over the year and 12.5% below the peak. Even so, Calgary apartments are still about 28% above where they were in September 2019, so most owners who bought before 2022 have gained.

The apartment supply wave behind the decline

Calgary's price drop is not the result of buyers disappearing from the city. Detached prices are flat. It is the result of a large wave of new apartment and rental supply arriving at the same time that investor demand cooled.

As demand rose in 2022 and 2023, builders started many apartment and purpose-built rental projects. Those projects take two to three years to complete, so much of that supply is arriving in 2025 and 2026. CREB's September 2026 report linked the apartment and row-home supply build to the construction boom, and the September 2026 apartment months of supply, just above five, compares with under four for the city as a whole.

New purpose-built rentals compete directly with investor-owned condos. When a new rental tower opens with free rent or other incentives, condo landlords in older buildings have to cut rents or wait longer for tenants. That reduces the return on owning a condo as an investment, and some owners list their units, adding to the supply already on the market. This is the cycle that has pushed Calgary apartment prices down while detached prices, where new supply is more limited, have held.

Supply waves end, though. Projects started in 2022 and 2023 are completing now, and builders respond to falling prices and rising vacancy by starting fewer new apartment projects. The lag between a start and a completion means the current glut can last a year or two, but it also means today's weak conditions are likely to reduce the number of new apartments finished in 2028 and 2029. For a buyer with a long horizon, that is a reason to watch the supply pipeline rather than the latest month's price.

Calgary rents and vacancy

CMHC's October 2025 Rental Market Survey put the City of Calgary's purpose-built vacancy rate at 5.0% and the average two-bedroom rent at $1,912. Airdrie's vacancy was 4.7% with a two-bedroom average of $1,851. For comparison, Edmonton's vacancy was 3.8% and its two-bedroom average $1,577.

A 5% vacancy rate is high for a large Canadian city and well above the roughly 3% that is often treated as balanced. It means landlords are competing for tenants. Asking rents on listing sites tend to react first, and survey averages, which include long-term tenants, follow later.

For condo investors this is the central problem. Calgary condos looked attractive in 2023 because purchase prices were low relative to rents. If rents flatten or fall while carrying costs rise at renewal, the same unit stops paying for itself. For renters, high vacancy is good news: more choice, more room to negotiate and less pressure to buy before they are ready. See rent vs buy in Calgary for the full comparison.

Apartments, townhouses and detached homes on Calgary's price ladder

Calgary's home types form a clear price ladder, and the steps between them have changed since the 2024 peak. On the CREA seasonally adjusted benchmarks for September 2026, a typical apartment cost $304,900, a townhouse $443,400 and a single-family home $679,600. The step from apartment to townhouse was $138,500, and from townhouse to detached $236,200.

Over the past year the apartment benchmark fell 6.0%, the townhouse benchmark 2.6% and the single-family benchmark 0.4%. The cheaper the home type, the more it fell. That pattern is the signature of a supply-driven correction at the bottom of the market rather than a broad loss of demand, which would usually hit the most expensive homes first.

For a household that owns an apartment and wants to move up, this is a mixed picture. Their apartment has lost value, but the townhouse or house they want to buy has held its price, so the gap they need to bridge has widened. A Calgary owner who bought an apartment at the August 2024 peak and wants a townhouse today faces a larger jump in price than they would have two years ago.

For a first-time buyer, it means apartments offer the most room to negotiate and the lowest entry price, while townhouses offer more space with less recent price risk. Calgary townhouses are also less exposed to the new apartment supply that is driving the condo decline, though many are in condominium corporations with their own fees and reserve funds.

Calgary condos against Edmonton condos

Edmonton is the natural comparison. Its apartment benchmark was $197,800 in September 2026, down only 0.9% from a year earlier, against Calgary's 6.0% decline. A typical Edmonton apartment costs about $107,000 less than a typical Calgary one. Calgary apartments, by contrast, rose about 49% from September 2020 to September 2024 before turning down.

Rents tell a similar story. CMHC's October 2025 survey put Edmonton's average two-bedroom rent at $1,577, against $1,912 in Calgary, and its vacancy at 3.8%, against 5.0%. Lower purchase prices, steadier rents and lower vacancy make Edmonton condos look more stable on the numbers, though the two cities have different job markets and many buyers are not choosing between them.

For investors, the gap between purchase price and rent is wider in Edmonton. A 20% down mortgage on Edmonton's $197,800 benchmark is about $877 a month at an illustrative 4.5% rate, against an average two-bedroom rent of $1,577. That leaves a larger margin for condo fees and taxes than the same calculation in Calgary. Our Edmonton real estate page has the broader Edmonton picture.

Signals that the Calgary condo correction is ending

CREA's forecast is provincial and covers all home types, so for Calgary apartments CREB's monthly data is the better guide. These are the numbers to watch.

• Apartment months of supply falling below four. Just above five in September 2026 is buyer's-market territory. A move back under four would mean listings are being absorbed.
• The apartment sales-to-new-listings ratio rising above 60%. It was 48% in September. Higher ratios mean fewer new listings for each sale.
• Month-over-month benchmark changes turning positive. The unadjusted apartment benchmark fell more than 1% between August and September 2026 and fell again in October.
• Calgary vacancy edging lower. CMHC's next Rental Market Survey, for October 2026, will show whether the 5.0% vacancy rate has peaked.

Until several of these turn, the safest assumption is that Calgary apartment prices will keep drifting lower into 2027, though at a slower pace than Toronto or Vancouver condos given the much lower starting price.

What it costs to own a Calgary condo now

Compared with Toronto or Vancouver, Calgary condos are still cheap to carry. At CREB's October 2026 apartment benchmark of $288,800, a buyer with 20% down borrows $231,040. Over 25 years at an illustrative 4.5% rate the payment is about $1,279 a month; at 5.5% it is about $1,410. The Bank of Canada's weekly average posted five-year rate was 6.19% on October 21, 2026, and most borrowers pay less than posted.

Against the $1,912 average two-bedroom rent, the mortgage payment on a benchmark apartment leaves room for condo fees, property tax and insurance. That is very different from Vancouver, where the mortgage alone on a benchmark apartment exceeds the average two-bedroom rent. Our Vancouver condo market page shows that comparison.

The difficulty is that condo fees in older Calgary buildings can be high, and some buildings face special assessments for envelope, roof or parkade repairs. A unit that looks cheap on price can be expensive to hold if the reserve fund is weak. Before buying, read the reserve fund study and board minutes; our condo reserve fund guide explains what to check.

Calgary condo affordability on local incomes

Calgary's condo correction is happening in one of Canada's most affordable big-city condo markets; Edmonton and Winnipeg have cheaper apartment benchmarks. The CREA apartment benchmark of $304,900 is about 2.6 times the Calgary area's 2023 median census family income of $116,530. Montreal's apartment benchmark is about 4.0 times local family income, Toronto's about 5.1 and Vancouver's about 6.3.

Qualifying is also within reach for many households. With 20% down on the benchmark, the mortgage is $243,920. At an illustrative 5.5% rate over 25 years the payment is about $1,489 a month. Uninsured borrowers must qualify at the higher of 5.25% or the contract rate plus two points, here 7.5%, where the payment would be about $1,784. If lenders cap housing payments near 32% of gross income, that requires roughly $67,000 of income before condo fees and property tax, well under the city's family median.

That affordability cuts both ways. It means Calgary's condo market has a deep pool of potential owner-occupiers who can step in as prices fall, which limits how far the correction can go. It also means the city's condo prices are less protected by scarcity than Toronto's or Vancouver's: when supply rises, buyers have plenty of alternatives, including new rentals and townhouses, so sellers have less pricing power.

For first-time buyers comparing Calgary with other cities, the numbers are hard to match elsewhere. A household earning the local median could carry a benchmark Calgary condo on a fraction of its income, while the same household would struggle to qualify for a typical condo in Toronto or Vancouver. Our Toronto vs Calgary affordability analysis runs the comparison in full.

Who is exposed: 2024 buyers and investors

The owners most exposed to the decline are those who bought apartments near the August 2024 peak with small down payments. Take a buyer who paid the CREA apartment benchmark of $348,300 in August 2024 with 10% down and a five-year fixed mortgage at the 2024 average posted rate of 6.73%. After two years of payments about 97% of the loan would still be owed. Against CREB's October 2026 benchmark of $288,800, that loan is about 105% of the unit's value. Against the CREA September benchmark of $304,900 it is about 99%.

These buyers are not at renewal yet; most five-year terms from 2024 run to 2029. Being underwater only matters if they need to sell, refinance or switch lenders before then. But it does mean they cannot sell without bringing cash to closing, which reduces their options if their circumstances change.

Investors with several units bought during the boom face the most pressure. If rents soften while their own costs rise, they are the most likely sellers. That potential supply is one reason the apartment segment may take longer to stabilise than detached homes. Compare provinces on the mortgage renewal risk page.

Buying a Calgary condo in this market

For an owner-occupier with a long time horizon, Calgary's condo market offers the best entry point in two years. Prices are 12% below the 2024 peak, supply is high and sellers are negotiating. A few things matter more than usual.

• Compare new and resale. With many new buildings completing, builders may offer incentives. Resale units in older buildings may be cheaper but carry higher fees or repair risk.
• Check the rental pool. In buildings with many investor-owned units, a downturn can lead to more listings and lower resale prices. A building with mostly owner-occupiers tends to hold value better.
• Plan for the long run. Calgary apartments took six years, from 2016 to 2022, to regain lost value after the oil downturn. Buy a unit you would be happy to own for at least five to seven years.
• Think about fees and insurance. Condo fees and building insurance have risen across Canada. Ask how the fee has changed over the past three years and whether an increase is planned.

Calgary's condo correction is real but limited. It is driven by a temporary surge of supply rather than a collapse in demand for the city. Detached homes are holding. Once the supply pipeline slows, apartments are likely to stabilise. The question is how long that takes. For the citywide picture, see the Calgary housing market hub and the Calgary housing market forecast. For the province, see the Alberta housing market forecast.