🍂 What Calgary homeowners should know before September
If selling your home has been somewhere in the back of your mind, you may be wondering:
“Have I already missed the best time to sell?”
Spring and early summer traditionally get all the attention when we talk about real estate season.
But here in Calgary, fall can still be a very good time to sell — provided your home is positioned properly for the market we’re in right now.
And this year, that last part really matters.
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📊 CALGARY MARKET SNAPSHOT
July 2026
🏠 1,904 residential sales
🪧 3,323 new listings
🏘️ 6,626 homes in inventory
⏳ Approximately 3.5 months of supply
💰 $569,200 residential benchmark price
What does that mean for homeowners?
We are moving through a more balanced and much more selective Calgary real estate market.
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🔑 THE CALGARY MARKET HAS CHANGED
We are not in quite the same market we experienced a couple of years ago, when buyers were often competing heavily for homes and sellers could sometimes expect immediate attention after listing.
Today, buyers generally have more choice.
And when buyers have choices, they compare.
They have time to look at the house down the street.
They notice the property that just reduced its price.
They compare renovations, location, lot size, garage space, basement development and overall condition.
Most importantly, they ask themselves:
💭 “Is this the best home I can get for my money?”
That doesn’t mean it’s a bad market for sellers.
Far from it.
It simply means that strategy matters more.
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👀 BUYERS ARE LOOKING FOR VALUE
One of the biggest things I’m seeing right now is that buyers are paying very close attention to value.
They’re no longer only asking:
“Do I like this house?”
They’re also asking:
“How does it compare with everything else I can buy for the same amount of money?”
And that’s an important distinction.
When several homes are competing for the same buyer, little things can become big things.
🏡 Condition
📍 Location
🔨 Updates
🌳 Lot and outdoor space
🚗 Garage and parking
⬇️ Basement development
✨ Presentation
💰 And, of course, price
An overpriced home can lose momentum surprisingly quickly.
That doesn’t necessarily mean there’s anything wrong with the house.
Sometimes the market is simply telling us that buyers are seeing better value somewhere else.
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🌟 KATRINA’S SELLER TIP
Don’t price your home based only on what your neighbour sold for six months ago.
What buyers are choosing — and rejecting — today can be even more important.
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📍 CALGARY ISN’T ONE REAL ESTATE MARKET
This is something I really want homeowners to understand.
You may hear:
📈 “The Calgary market is up!”
or…
📉 “The Calgary market is slowing!”
But neither statement tells us very much about your particular home.
The market for a detached house in Northwest Calgary can look very different from the market for an apartment condo downtown.
A townhouse can behave differently from a detached home.
Even two communities located fairly close together can experience different levels of inventory and buyer demand.
Your real estate market is much more specific.
It’s your:
Neighbourhood + Property Type + Price Range + Competition
That’s why I don’t believe homeowners should make a selling decision based solely on a Calgary-wide average.
I want to know what is happening right around your home.
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🍁 HAVE YOU MISSED THE BEST TIME TO SELL?
Not necessarily!
Fall buyers can actually be very motivated.
Life doesn’t suddenly stop because summer is over.
👨👩👧 Families outgrow their homes.
💼 People relocate for work.
🏡 Homeowners decide to downsize.
🔑 First-time buyers enter the market.
💍 Relationships and family situations change.
📦 People simply decide they’re ready for something different.
There can also be an interesting advantage to listing in the fall.
🍂 LESS COMPETITION
Some homeowners decide they’ll wait until spring.
Others take listings off the market.
That can mean fewer properties competing for the attention of serious buyers.
A well-presented, correctly priced home can absolutely stand out.
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💰 PRICING MAY BE ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT DECISIONS YOU MAKE
When I meet with a homeowner, I don’t just pull up homes that sold several months ago, calculate an average and put a price on the property.
I want to know what buyers are seeing right now.
🔎 I look at questions like:
✅ What has sold recently?
✅ What is currently competing with your home?
✅ Which listings have reduced their prices?
✅ Which homes aren’t selling?
✅ How long are similar properties taking to sell?
✅ Are buyers actually booking showings?
✅ Which price ranges are getting attention?
✅ What have buyers been willing to pay?
All of those things give us clues.
And once your home is listed, I continue watching them.
Because real estate isn’t something you simply set and forget.
The market can change while your home is listed, and sometimes our strategy needs to change along with it.
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❤️ MY PHILOSOPHY
The market will always give us information.
Our job is to pay attention to what it’s telling us — and respond accordingly.
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🔨 SHOULD YOU RENOVATE BEFORE SELLING?
This is another question I hear all the time.
And my answer is usually:
✋ Please talk to me before you start spending money!
You may think you need a $25,000 kitchen renovation when your house really needs:
🎨 Fresh paint
💡 Better lighting
🪴 A little staging
🧹 Decluttering
🌳 Landscaping cleaned up
🛋️ Furniture rearranged
✨ A really good deep clean
Sometimes relatively inexpensive changes can completely change the way buyers experience a home.
And sometimes?
The smartest thing to do is leave something alone and price the home accordingly.
I’d much rather see you keep money in your pocket than spend thousands of dollars on improvements that buyers won’t necessarily pay you back for.
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🌷 THINKING ABOUT SELLING NEXT SPRING?
Start planning now.
You do not need to be ready to put a FOR SALE sign on your lawn before calling a Realtor.
In fact, some of my favourite conversations with homeowners happen months before they’re ready to sell.
It gives us time.
We can walk through your home together and talk about:
🏠 What your home may be worth today
🔨 What I would change
💰 What I wouldn’t spend money on
📅 When might be the best time to sell
📊 What’s happening in your neighbourhood
📝 What we can do now to make selling easier later
And there is absolutely no obligation to list your home simply because you ask me for advice.
Sometimes having good information is all you need right now.
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🍂 SO… IS FALL 2026 A GOOD TIME TO SELL?
For the right home, with the right pricing and the right strategy — YES, it certainly can be.
But I would never answer that question for a homeowner without first looking at their individual property.
Because the better question isn’t:
“Is Calgary a good market for sellers?”
It’s:
🏡 “What is happening in the market for MY home?”
And that’s something we can figure out together.
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💌 CURIOUS WHAT YOUR HOME WOULD SELL FOR?
If selling has been on your mind — whether you’re thinking about:
🍂 This fall
❄️ This winter
🌷 Next spring
🤔 Or you’re simply curious
Reach out.
I’ll take a look at what’s happening around your home, what you’re competing against and what similar properties are actually selling for.
No pressure. No obligation.
Just good information so you can make the right decision when the time comes.
❤️
Katrina Holmes, REALTOR®
Real Estate Professionals
Your Favourite Calgary Realtor
📞 403-620-0164
📧 holmessellshomes21@gmail.com
🌐 www.katrinaholmes.com
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🏡 Thinking of Buying or Selling in Calgary?
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