It’s the end of October, and the buyers I’m talking to have started asking a version of the same question: do we keep looking through the winter, or wait for spring? It usually comes with a theory attached. Winter is when the deals are. Fewer people are looking, the sellers who list in January have to move, and prices soften when it’s minus twenty.
That is also what the first page of a search will tell you, and none of it is checked against Calgary sales. So I took the last two Calgary winters, the resale homes that sold from December to February, and set them against the spring that came right after, because that is the choice you are actually making: buy now, or wait.
In both winters, homes took longer to sell than in the spring, there were far fewer of them to choose from, and more of the sellers had already moved out. Whether winter buyers paid less depended on the year: across the whole season they did last winter. The winter before, the difference was under half a point. In both years, December and January sales came in below the spring that followed. By February that was gone.
The two winters, side by side
| Winter 2024-25 | Spring 2025 | Winter 2025-26 | Spring 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Homes sold | 3,920 | 6,273 | 3,341 | 5,423 |
| Half sold within | 24 days | 19 days | 31 days | 21 days |
| Sold at or above asking | 25.4% | 30.0% | 14.9% | 23.7% |
| Sold more than 5% under asking | 7.2% | 6.1% | 14.1% | 9.6% |
| Homes for sale at month end, on average | 2,719 | 4,775 | 3,233 | 4,774 |
| New listings where the home was already vacant | 41.4% | 34.9% | 41.6% | 34.0% |
Calgary resale homes: detached, semi-detached, row and apartment, not counting homes built in 2023 or later or never lived in. Winter is December to February, spring is March to May. Sales are grouped by the month the sale was recorded, homes for sale by month end, and the vacant share by the month the listing started. Source: Pillar 9 MLS data, retrieved October 27, 2026.
Read across the rows and the pattern is the same in both years: winter was slower and thinner than the spring that followed. How much slower changed a lot from one year to the next. Winter 2025-26 was a softer market than winter 2024-25 from start to finish, and the gap between winter and spring was bigger too. The market was moving in both years, so each comparison shows what happened to someone who bought in winter instead of waiting, not a seasonal effect on its own.
“Less competition”: slower, with a catch
Winter homes took longer to sell in both years. Half of winter 2024-25 homes sold within 24 days, against 19 in the spring. Last winter it was 31 days against 21. Those extra five to ten days are time to see a home twice and book an inspection before you write.
Fewer homes sold at or above asking in winter, too, though the size of that gap changed with the year. Last winter, 14.9 per cent of sales went at or above asking against 23.7 per cent in the spring. The winter before, it was 25.4 against 30.0, a much smaller difference.
The catch is that sellers hibernate as well. Across December to February 2024-25 there were on average 2,719 resale homes for sale at the end of each month. In the spring that followed there were 4,775, so the winter had 43 per cent fewer. Last winter it was 3,233 against 4,774, 32 per cent fewer.
Put the two together and winter did not tip the balance the way the folklore says. Divide the homes for sale by the homes selling each month and you get how many months the current supply would last. In winter 2024-25 that came to 2.08 months against 2.28 in the spring, so winter was actually a little tighter. Last winter it was 2.90 against 2.64, a little looser. The difference was small either way. Winter was slower, with fewer homes to pick from, and if the home you want is not listed in January, the spring is when it is likely to show up.
“Motivated sellers” and homes that are already vacant
No listing records how badly a seller wants to move. What it does record is whether anyone is living in the home, and that moved with the season in both years. Of the resale homes listed in winter 2024-25, 41.4 per cent were vacant, against 34.9 per cent of those listed the following spring. Last winter it was 41.6 against 34.0. Detached homes showed the same shift: 33.0 and 34.1 per cent vacant in the two winters, 27.0 per cent in both springs.
A vacant home is not a desperate seller. It might be an estate, a landlord between tenants, a family that has already moved into its next house, or a relocation. What those sellers have in common is a home nobody is living in that still has carrying costs every month: heat, insurance and property tax. In a Calgary January, someone also has to keep the walks clear and check that nothing froze. With nobody to move out first, possession is often easier to fit to your dates. It is a reason to ask the listing agent what the seller’s timing looks like. It says nothing on its own about price.
“Lower prices”: one winter yes, one winter no
Comparing sale prices across seasons is harder than it looks, because the homes that sell in January are not the same mix as the homes that sell in May. So for each sale I compared the price with the City of Calgary’s assessed value for that same home. Every home’s assessment was set on the same date, July 1, 2025, so it works as a fixed ruler that does not move with the season.
On that ruler, winter 2024-25 buyers paid a typical 100.93 per cent of assessed value and spring buyers 101.37 per cent (98.96 against 100.00 for detached homes). That is less than half a point, small enough to disappear inside any one negotiation. Last winter the gap was bigger: 95.35 per cent in winter against 96.64 in the spring, and for detached homes 95.83 against 97.89, about two points.
The month-by-month figures show where the difference sat.
| Month sold | Homes sold | Half sold within | At or above asking | Price vs assessed value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 2024 | 1,616 | 26 days | 24.6% | 100.00% |
| December 2024 | 1,152 | 32 days | 19.1% | 100.17% |
| January 2025 | 1,284 | 26 days | 24.1% | 100.44% |
| February 2025 | 1,484 | 18 days | 31.4% | 101.98% |
| March 2025 | 1,934 | 17 days | 32.8% | 101.71% |
| April 2025 | 2,008 | 19 days | 30.9% | 101.17% |
| May 2025 | 2,331 | 21 days | 26.8% | 101.18% |
| November 2025 | 1,359 | 37 days | 11.5% | 95.31% |
| December 2025 | 986 | 40.5 days | 9.2% | 94.44% |
| January 2026 | 1,064 | 38 days | 14.9% | 94.75% |
| February 2026 | 1,291 | 22 days | 19.3% | 96.73% |
| March 2026 | 1,633 | 21 days | 23.2% | 96.57% |
| April 2026 | 1,847 | 21 days | 23.6% | 96.67% |
| May 2026 | 1,943 | 20 days | 24.2% | 96.65% |
Same definitions and source as the first table. “Price vs assessed value” is the typical figure when each sale price is set against the City’s 2026 assessment for the same home.
In both years February already looked like spring. Homes sold about as fast as they did in March, and for about the same share of assessed value. December and January are where winter actually showed up. Taken together, December and January sales came in 1.13 points below the spring that followed in 2024-25 and 2.02 points below in 2025-26. For detached homes it was 1.69 and 2.86 points. On a house assessed at $650,000, that is about $11,000 and about $18,600.
CREB’s benchmark price, which adjusts for the mix of homes sold, also bottomed in January last winter and rose into spring: $553,400 in January 2026 and $569,400 by May.
Two winters is a short record, so I’d treat December and January as a pattern to watch, not a promise. And it did not hold for apartment condos. Apartments sold for about the same share of assessed value in December and January as in the spring in both years. For apartment buyers, the year has mattered far more than the month, which is the two-speed market showing up again.
What this means if you’re in the southwest
SW detached homes were more competitive than detached homes citywide in both winters. In winter 2024-25 they barely slowed down: half sold within 16 days, and 39.4 per cent went at or above asking, against 14 days and 42.6 per cent the following spring. Last winter they cooled more, to 22 days and 25.2 per cent at or above asking, while the spring went straight back to 14 days. If you are shopping for a detached house in the southwest, expect competition even in winter: last winter, half of them still sold within about three weeks.
Five things about a Calgary winter purchase that run on the calendar
Most winter-buying advice is about mood: cozy showings, sellers who mean business. These five are specific to buying here, because daylight, weather or a rule decides them.
This is the first winter on Alberta Time. Alberta is not turning its clocks back this November, so every sunset this winter comes an hour later on the clock than last winter. The earliest one is about 5:30 pm in mid-December. By January 15 it is about 6:00 pm, and by February 15 about 6:50. After-work showings get that extra hour of daylight. The trade-off is in the morning: around New Year the sun comes up at about 9:40, so an 8:30 inspection starts in the dark. Book inspections for late morning or midday so the inspector can see the outside of the house in daylight.
Read what the inspection could not see. Alberta licenses home inspectors. The contract has to list any standard component the inspection will not cover, initialled by you, and the report has to name what was not inspected and why. Winter adds to that second list. Inspection standards do not require an inspector to clear snow off a roof or walk on one. InterNACHI’s standard does not require them to run the air conditioning when it is below about 18°C outside. Grading and drainage are hard to judge under a snowpack. So the “not inspected” section of the report becomes your list of questions for the seller: the age of the roof, service records for the air conditioner, and anything in the disclosure about water.
The attic is the one place winter shows you more. In January 2024 CBC Calgary reported on “attic rain”: frost that builds up in an attic during a deep cold snap and comes through the ceiling as water when the temperature jumps. A roofer they spoke to described the trigger as going from minus 30 or minus 40 to plus five in two days. If the inspector can get into the attic in January, you are seeing it in the conditions that cause the problem.
The sidewalk is yours from possession day. Calgary’s Street Bylaw gives the owner or occupant 24 hours after the snow comes down to clear the public sidewalk next to the property to bare surface. If it is not done, the City can clear it and bill the owner, starting at $150 plus GST and an administration fee, and an unpaid bill goes onto the property tax. If you take possession in January but are not moving in until February, line up someone to shovel.
Book the utilities two weeks out, and ask about holiday dates. Alberta’s Utilities Consumer Advocate recommends setting up power and natural gas at least two weeks before you take possession, and in a Calgary winter the gas is your heat. Possession dates over the holidays need one more question. Alberta’s Land Titles offices were closed from December 24, 2025 to January 1, 2026, and this year’s dates have not been posted yet. If you are looking at a possession date between Christmas and New Year’s, ask your lawyer how they will handle it before you write it into the offer.
Common questions
Is winter a good time to buy a house in Calgary?
It is a slower time, which helps, but not a cheaper one by default. Over the last two winters, Calgary resale homes that sold from December to February took longer to sell than in the spring that followed: half sold within 24 days against 19 in 2024-25, and within 31 days against 21 in 2025-26. Fewer sold at or above asking. There were also 32 to 43 per cent fewer homes for sale. Against the City’s assessed values, winter buyers paid less than spring buyers in 2025-26 but about the same overall in 2024-25.
Do Calgary homes sell for less in winter?
In one of the last two winters, yes. Measured against the City’s assessed value for the same home, winter 2025-26 buyers paid a typical 95.35 per cent and spring 2026 buyers 96.64 per cent, and for detached homes the gap was about two points. In winter 2024-25 the gap was under half a point overall and about one point for detached homes. In both years the difference sat in December and January: sales in those two months came in 1.13 and 2.02 points below the following spring, while February already priced like spring. Apartments showed little or no December-January dip in either year. Two winters is a short record, so treat that as a pattern, not a promise.
Are there fewer homes for sale in Calgary in winter?
Yes, far fewer. From December to February 2024-25 there were on average 2,719 resale homes for sale at the end of each month, against 4,775 in the spring that followed. Last winter it was 3,233 against 4,774. Fewer homes were selling too, so the number of months the supply would last was close to the spring figure in both years: a little tighter in winter 2024-25 and a little looser in 2025-26.
Can you get a proper home inspection in winter?
Yes, with limits you should know about. Inspection standards do not require an inspector to clear snow from a roof or walk on one, and InterNACHI’s standard does not require running the air conditioning below about 18°C outside. Grading is hard to judge under snow. In Alberta the inspection contract has to list any standard component it will not cover, which you initial, and the report has to name what was not inspected and why. Read the “not inspected” section of the report and ask the seller about those items. The attic is the exception: winter is when attic frost actually shows up.
The honest summary
Over the last two Calgary winters, buying between December and February meant a slower market than the spring that followed: homes took five to ten days longer to sell, and fewer went at or above asking. It also meant a much smaller selection, 32 to 43 per cent fewer homes for sale, and a bigger share of sellers who had already moved out. Spring was not cheaper in either year. Winter was clearly cheaper in one of them, by about two points of assessed value for a detached house. In the other the gap was under half a point overall and about one point for detached homes. In both years whatever difference there was sat in December and January, not February. Apartment condos did not follow that pattern at all.
So if you are ready now, keep looking. A lower price is not something to count on, but winter gives you time, and a better chance that the seller has already moved out. If the right home is not out there in January, it will probably show up in the spring.
Looking this winter?
Tell me what you're after and where. I'll set up a search for it and tell you honestly whether the right home is likely to come up now or in the spring. You don't have to buy through me to ask.
