Record housing delivery reshapes Calgary’s market as policy uncertainty looms
Calgary’s homebuilding surge set another record in 2025, even as sales and prices eased from recent peaks and city council wrestled with the future of blanket rezoning.
City figures showed 27,952 homes granted occupancy last year, more than double the 10‑year annual average of 13,199 and the highest tally on record.
Nearly 28,000 new homes came online overall, including a record 6,185 secondary suites and 486 units from downtown office-to-residential conversions, 130 of them non‑market.
Across Alberta, housing starts in Calgary climbed about 14% year over year as the province delivered more than 53,000 starts, a new all‑time high.
“This is what’s needed to both meet the increase in the population we’ve seen over the last couple of years, as well as ensure that while we see those massive demand pressures, we are meeting it with additional supply to keep home prices affordable,” said Reid Hendry, Calgary’s chief housing officer.
Developers fanned out across the city.
“On any given street, we’re seeing stacked townhomes, we’re seeing duplexes, we’re seeing singles with suites in the backyard or across the lane,” said Teresa Goldstein, the city’s director of community planning.
“We are offering additional housing choices. It’s getting people into areas where they may not have been able to afford that single-family home,” she said.
Market data suggested that wave of construction already started to cool conditions. The Calgary Real Estate Board reported 1,234 home sales in January, down nearly 15% year over year, with benchmark prices off about 5%, and apartment-style units seeing the steepest declines.
“Following the typical December slowdown, potential buyers for high-density homes were more hesitant to return to the market in January, as increased supply choice across all aspects of the market has reduced the sense of urgency,” said Ann-Marie Lurie, CREB’s Chief Economist.
“At the same time, sellers were quick to bring their listings onto the market, causing the sales-to-new-listings ratio to drop to 44 per cent, mostly due to shifts in apartment and row-style homes. Overall, this is not entirely uncommon for January, as both buyers and sellers weigh their options ahead of the spring market.”
Zoning debate clouds outlook
The record build-out unfolded as Calgary moved to unwind the 2024 blanket rezoning policy that aimed to enable denser infill. Builders warned that uncertainty around what will replace it has already delayed some projects and pushed land buying to nearby centres such as Cochrane and Airdrie.
The combination of surging new supply, slowing in-migration and softer condo and high‑density prices highlights a more balanced, opportunity‑rich market in 2026, but one still highly sensitive to policy signals from city hall.
Broader context for brokers and lenders
Out‑of‑province demand into Calgary, once a key driver of price gains, has already cooled as affordability eroded, even while Alberta remained a magnet for priced‑out borrowers from Ontario and British Columbia.
Rising inventory and more modest projected price growth left Calgary looking comparatively attractive among major Canadian metros, particularly for buyers able to tap family support or extended amortizations.
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