Want to buy a house in Calgary? You're not alone. Why the city's booming despite high interest rates

As interest rates climbed in Canada over the last year, so have mortgage payments. As a result, house prices in many markets have started to slow their steep ascent. The one major exception? Calgary.

The latest numbers from the Calgary Real Estate Board confirm it, with the average home price in Calgary at $539,461, up nearly 10 per cent compared to last year.

"I'm just surprised about the strength that we've continued to have in Calgary," said Ann-Marie Lurie, chief economist for the Calgary Real Estate Board, which called its July 2023 sales numbers the strongest reported, with a "record-setting pace." 

In part, economists like Lurie pin the strength of the Calgary market on comparative pricing compared to other cities. Even as interest rates increase, the cost difference remains stark.

Numbers from the Teranet-National Bank House Price Index back this up. For example, while prices in Toronto or Vancouver have dropped from their peak in spring 2022, they still remain relatively higher than Calgary.

Escalating mortgage costs may not discourage those coming from markets such as Toronto, with detached homes that often cost more than $1 million. According to Lurie, those buyers are "less sensitive to those higher interest rates" when they view similar homes in Calgary with prices that are typically hundreds of thousands of dollars lower.

For Nadine Faule, a realtor who specializes in helping clients relocate to Calgary from other parts of Canada and the world, the current market is "like the gold rush" for people struggling to afford homes in more expensive markets.

"Everybody wants to come to Calgary and we just don't have enough houses," said Faule, who spoke to CBC News from an open house showing in Calgary's Woodbine neighbourhood where nine offers were placed on the home before the open house even began.

"We have such a lack of properties," she said. 

Faule told CBC News she typically needs to advise buyers that while Calgary prices may be lower than other Canadian cities, the market is fast-moving, with sellers in the "driver's seat" in the current climate.

It's a vibe felt not just by real estate agents, but also by Calgarians looking to buy.

"We thought it was gonna be way easier," said Alejandro Decker, who stopped by Faule's open house on a summer weekend. Over the last month, he's been looking to buy a home for his family of four.

"We find that we don't have choices," he said. "It's very frustrating."

And it's not just locals. Newcomers arriving in Calgary are definitely a factor in higher prices and tight supply, say housing market watchers.