House prices in Calgary up 15% in 1 year, barriers for first-time owners pile up

Housing affordability and availability have been a nationwide concern for some time and data indicates many looking to purchase their first property running into numerous challenges, especially here in Calgary.

Calgary has seen the largest rise in house prices among Alberta cities over the last year, according to new data from the Alberta Real Estate Association (AREA) and the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA).

From February 2023 to February 2024 the price for an average home in the city increased $76,505.

The national average rise in the benchmark house price was $4,400, meaning that house prices in Calgary have risen over 17 times the national average.

Though prices are skyrocketing slower in other provinces, prospective buyers outside of Alberta aren’t feeling much better about their prospects.

More than three-quarters of Canadians who don’t own a property say entry to the housing market feels out of reach for them, according to a new poll.

CIBC says an online survey conducted in February found more than 70 per cent of non-owners said overpriced markets are one of the main barriers to achieving homeownership.

Over half of Canadians also say the inability to save for a down payment is a significant hurdle and that they’ll only be able to afford a new home with an inheritance or gift from their family.

Dillon is a 29-year-old Calgarian who has been looking to buy his first home for the last eight months, to no avail.

“I think the biggest surprise has just been how difficult it’s been, despite having a great team of people around me and being heavily invested in finding properties they’re usually going quite quickly and for prices that nobody really expects,” he explained. “You do all the math and all the research and then you find out it went for $40K more than that still and so it’s been really confusing, and just mind games I would say.

“It can be a really discouraging experience.”

Dillon posted on Reddit, journaling his odyssey-like path in navigating Calgary’s real estate landscape, saying it’s not for the faint of heart.

It turns out, hundreds of Calgarians felt similar feelings, agreeing how difficult the experience can be, especially has homes go for well above the asking price.

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“It really begs the question, what’s actually going on? Is it an uneducated bidder? Is there something else that’s going on?” Dillon added. “There has to be a ceiling on every property, I want to get a fair house for a fair market value, even if its a hot market.”

The Calgary Real Estate Board (CREB) says home sales in March were up nearly 10 per cent from this time last year, with interprovincial migration continuing as the lead contributor to the surge.

Santhosh Nathan is an investor-focused realtor and co-founder of the Calgary Real Estate Investor Hub, he understands the challenges first-time homebuyers facing.

“Admittedly, it’s very challenging for a first-time home buyer to enter the market because you have a lot of people moving up the ladder or who have a bit more money to put down and people are willing to write unconditional offers which means no financing, no inspection, essentially you have no recourse,” he said.

Nathan gave some advice for people who may find themselves wondering if a purchase is even possible.

“Timing the market matters a lot more than trying to time your market. So it doesn’t matter which market cycle you buy in, as long as you have a plan to hold the property for the longer term,” he explained.

Dillon says he’s got squeezed out of a purchase on several occasions and promptly seen the property put up for rent.

“I find a place and think ‘This could be great, it has a good community to build into’ and then you go and put an offer in on it and unfortunately lose it to one with no conditions that’s quite a bit over and in the next few days you see it on RentFaster,” Dillon said. “I think that’s been a continual thing I’ve seen with a lot of properties that I’ve lost out on, is they’re up for rent in a few weeks, sometimes days after.”

However, Dillon says there are some steps you can take to give the process your best shot.

“There is an honesty in this process, I encourage Calgarians if they are planning to send an offer to write a letter, write why you want a property,” he said. “It’s important to put your best foot forward but to not over-extend yourself.”

As many potential buyers feel the squeeze, experts continue to warn that prices don’t appear to be going down anytime soon.

CIBC data shows just over half of variable-rate mortgage holders polled report cutting back on everyday expenses, and 21 per cent are putting lump sum payments toward their mortgage.

-With files from The Canadian Press