Calgary’s ownership market is now bending around its rental market, and Calgary’s own real estate board says so in print. Apartment condominium prices fell 8% in August. Detached fell 1%. The weakness sits in the same product type in both markets.
Every figure on this page carries its source and the period it describes. Where two credible sources disagree, we publish both and explain why, rather than averaging them into a number nobody can defend. This page is updated monthly.
On 1 September the Calgary Real Estate Board published its August figures. Sales fell 16% year over year to 1,660 units, new listings fell nearly 10% to 3,141, and inventory sat at 6,509 units, close to four months of supply. Those are ownership numbers. What makes the release relevant here is the reason CREB gives for them.
CREB Chief Economist Ann-Marie Lurie, in the release: “More rental supply is weighing on ownership demand from both first-time buyers and investors, which is slowing sales activity while supply levels remain elevated.” And separately: “we have not seen the same pickup in activity in the lower price ranges, as favourable rental conditions are slowing the transition to ownership.”
Read plainly, that is Calgary’s real estate board saying renting has become attractive enough to keep people from buying. The price movement underneath it is not spread evenly.
| Calgary benchmark price, August 2026 | Price | Year over year |
|---|---|---|
| Semi-detached | $690,500 | +1% |
| Detached | $744,300 | -1% |
| Total residential | $569,800 | -1% |
| Row and townhouse | $415,200 | -5% |
| Apartment condominium | $295,400 | -8% |
Source: Calgary Real Estate Board, Sales and new listings slow in August, released 1 September 2026. These are ownership benchmark prices, not rents.
The same product type is soft in both markets. Apartments and condominiums are where the ownership price fell hardest, and they are also where the rental softness has been concentrated all year. Detached and semi-detached held their value. That is one pattern showing up twice, in two datasets that are collected in completely different ways.
This is the single most misread pair of figures in Canadian rental coverage, and it is the reason two credible outlets can report opposite headlines in the same week. Both are correct. They are counting different people.
| Measure | What it counts | Period | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asking rent, all types, Calgary | What new listings are advertised at | July 2026 | -4.5% |
| Asking rent, two-bedroom apartment | New listings across major platforms | Q1 2026 | -1.0% |
| Occupied rent, two-bedroom | What sitting tenants actually pay | 2025 | +1.42% |
| Occupied rent, bachelor | What sitting tenants actually pay | 2025 | +5.67% |
Sources: Rentals.ca National Rent Report, August 2026 edition covering July data. Statistics Canada, Quarterly rent statistics, Q1 2026, released 9 June 2026 — Calgary two-bedroom asking rent $1,900. CMHC Rental Market Survey via the Government of Alberta Regional Dashboard — Calgary two-bedroom occupied rent $1,896, bachelor $1,440.
Asking rent moves first. Occupied rent moves last. A new listing has to clear against whatever supply arrived this month, so asking rents react immediately. A sitting tenant renews at or above their old rent, so the occupied average keeps drifting upward long after listings have softened. When you read that Calgary rents are down and Calgary rents are up in the same week, you are usually reading one of each — and neither is wrong.
Calgary apartment vacancy is quoted two ways, from the same underlying survey. Our August edition rounded them into “about 5%”. That was an average, and averaging is exactly what this report exists not to do.
| Source | Figure | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| CMHC, 2026 Mid-Year Rental Market Update | 5.0% | Total apartment universe |
| The City of Calgary, citing the CMHC Rental Market Survey | 5.1% | Purpose-built apartment |
Both figures describe 2025 and derive from the same CMHC survey. The difference is the unit universe being measured and rounding, not a disagreement about the market.
Either way, the more useful cut is not the citywide number but where the vacancy actually sits. In 2025 the highest-rent quartile ran at 6.7% vacancy and the lowest-rent quartile at 4.4%. Choice is concentrated at the top of the price range, which is also where the new supply has been built. CMHC estimates a balanced range of 3.0% to 5.5% for Calgary and notes that Calgary and Edmonton need higher vacancy than other centres before rents stabilise — so at 5.0 to 5.1% the city sits inside that band, near the top of it.
Calgary is not one rental market. Split the asking-rent figures by property type and the direction reverses.
| Property type | Asking rent, year over year |
|---|---|
| Townhouse and duplex | +9.5% |
| Detached house | +7.1% |
| Multi-residential | +3.8% |
| Main floor and basement suites | -1.0% |
Calgary asking rents, first quarter 2026 against first quarter 2025. Source: RentFaster data published by The City of Calgary. This remains the most recent published split by property type.
Set that beside CREB’s August benchmark table and the shape is consistent across both markets: apartments and condominiums soft, houses and townhouses holding. If you are looking for one of the property types that has held, you can browse the houses and suites currently available across Calgary, Airdrie and Chestermere, or start with northeast Calgary rentals, which sit largely in the lower rent quartiles where vacancy is tightest.
It is both, in different segments. Asking rents across all Calgary property types were down 4.5% year over year in July 2026, and vacancy in the highest-rent quartile ran at 6.7% in 2025, which favours renters looking at apartments and condominiums. In the same period, Calgary asking rents for townhouses and duplexes were up 9.5% year over year and detached homes up 7.1%, while occupied two-bedroom rents rose 1.42%, which favours owners of houses and suites. The segment matters more than the city.
Sources: Rentals.ca National Rent Report August 2026 edition, CMHC Rental Market Survey, RentFaster data published by The City of Calgary.
CREB’s chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie stated that more rental supply is weighing on ownership demand from both first-time buyers and investors, which is slowing sales activity, and that favourable rental conditions are slowing the transition to ownership. Calgary’s apartment condominium benchmark price fell 8% year over year to $295,400 in August 2026, while the detached benchmark fell 1% to $744,300. Source: Calgary Real Estate Board, Sales and new listings slow in August, released 1 September 2026.
Both figures are published and both are correct within their own scope. CMHC’s 2026 Mid-Year Rental Market Update reports 5.0% for the total apartment universe. The City of Calgary, citing the CMHC Rental Market Survey, reports 5.1% for purpose-built apartments. The difference is the unit universe being measured and rounding, not a disagreement about the market. We publish both rather than averaging them.
They measure two different populations. Asking rent is what a new listing is advertised at, so it moves as soon as new supply arrives. Occupied rent is what sitting tenants actually pay, and it drifts upward as existing leases renew. Calgary two-bedroom occupied rent rose 1.42% to $1,896 in 2025 and bachelor rent rose 5.67% to $1,440, in the same window that asking rents fell. Both numbers are correct at the same time.
Sources: CMHC Rental Market Survey via the Government of Alberta Regional Dashboard, Statistics Canada Quarterly rent statistics.
No. Calgary asking rents in the first quarter of 2026 were up 9.5% year over year for townhouses and duplexes, up 7.1% for detached homes and up 3.8% for multi-residential, while main floor and basement suites were down 1.0%, which is effectively flat. The widely reported decline applies to apartments and condominiums. Source: RentFaster data published by The City of Calgary, Q1 2026.
Roughly one Calgary rental in four turned over during 2025. Turnover by rent quartile was 20.7% in the lowest-rent quartile, 27.3% in the second and 27.8% in the third; the highest quartile was not reported. For an owner, turnover rather than vacancy is what costs money, because every turnover carries a vacancy gap, a make-ready cost and a re-letting cost. Source: CMHC 2026 Mid-Year Rental Market Update.
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We manage more than 400 residential rental properties across Calgary, Airdrie and Chestermere, so we price against what our own doors are letting for rather than against a citywide average that does not describe your property.
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