When a Calgary apartment condo went on the market in September 2026, what was it actually up against? The obvious answer is the 1,816 other apartment listings on CREB's books that month. The September numbers point to a second rival that doesn't appear in any MLS® search. That month apartments took a median of 55 days to sell, up from 52 a year earlier. The sale-to-list ratio slipped from 97.0% to 96.1%.
That gap of almost four percent between asking and selling price comes from somewhere. A lot of it can be traced to leasing offices in new rental buildings.
The Free Month Down The Street
Take one example in the southwest. Truman's Mondrian at 8230 Broadcast Ave S.W. in West District lists one- to three-bedroom suites from $1,800 a month. Its operator page advertises a move-in bonus of up to two months free on a 26-month term, or one month free on a 13-month term. On top of that it offers a half-month deposit, free parking, free storage, included utilities and no pet fee.
Here is what that does to the rent a tenant actually pays:
- On the 26-month term, the tenant pays 24 months at $1,800 across 26 months. That works out to about $1,662 a month.
- On the 13-month term, the tenant pays 12 months across 13. That also lands at about $1,662 a month.
- Rentals.ca and Urbanation put Calgary's average asking rent for apartments and condos at $1,825 in August 2026.
So a brand-new building with parking and utilities included is effectively renting below the city's average asking rent. It isn't the only one. Highstreet's Brooklyn in Greenwich Village, northwest Calgary, was promoting one month free on a 13-month lease, with suites from $1,566. It also offered Calgary Farmers' Market vouchers worth $250 or $500 depending on unit size. That offer appeared in sponsored content on LiveWire Calgary in June 2026. The Calgary Herald has also reported local landlords offering free parking and several months of free rent.
Operators set these promotions and can change them at any time. The figures above are what was advertised when this was written.
Why A Leasing Promotion Shows Up In A Resale Price
A condo buyer usually belongs to one of two groups. Some plan to live in the unit. Others plan to rent it out. The investor group's price ceiling depends on the rent the unit can bring in. When a new building down the road is giving away a month and including the parking, a privately owned condo has to compete with that offer to find a tenant.
CMHC's June 2026 mid-year rental update says new rental units in large markets are taking longer to fill, sometimes months. It also describes competition from investor-owned rental condos as "higher than usual," which slows lease-up further. CMHC doesn't break that effect out for Calgary specifically. Still, the connection works in both directions. New rental buildings compete with condo landlords for tenants, and condo landlords compete with the buildings.
A Calgary Herald report quoted Taylor Pardy, CMHC's lead economist for the Prairies, describing a market where "supply is significantly outrunning demand." The report was built around CREB's February statistics. The report pointed out that many ownership units in Calgary were built with investors in mind, and that new ownership and rental supply together were driving significant adjustments on the resale side.
CREB's chief economist made the same point in the board's October 1 release:
"The construction boom over the past three years was mostly driven by gains in higher-density sectors, significantly increasing the supply of apartment and row-style homes." — Ann-Marie Lurie, CREB®
The release adds that demand for apartments and row homes is being "spread across more alternatives in the rental and new home markets."
In the year to September 2026, Calgary's apartment benchmark fell 8.28%, from $317,700 to $291,400. Asking rents fell 4.5% over the year to August 2026, the steepest annual drop among Canada's six largest rental markets. So prices have dropped further than rents. That fits a resale market under pressure from two sides at once: the rent an investor can expect to charge, and the number of other condos listed for sale.
The Supply Behind The Promotions
The free months reflect how many new rental units are landing at once. CMHC's housing supply report counts these Calgary purpose-built rental completions:
- 4,886 in the first half of 2024
- 4,155 in the first half of 2025
- 5,762 in the first half of 2026, about 39% above the same period last year
CMHC also reports that Calgary's purpose-built rental stock grew 11% in 2025, the fastest growth in decades. It adds that newer, higher-rent units took longer to lease.
More is on the way. In University District, Gracorp and Harrison Street completed Encore, a 303-unit, 440-bed rental building, with occupancy starting in August 2025. The community's June 2026 update said Truman's 222-unit Academy was expected to begin pre-leasing this fall, with completion near the end of 2026. Gracorp's 322-unit Thesis was scheduled to start pre-leasing in September 2026. Downtown, Calgary Municipal Land Corporation has named Bankside Properties' Library Square in East Village as a 162-home purpose-built rental, with tenants expected in 2027.
Each new building has to fill its suites, and an early promotion is the usual way to do it. Where several buildings are leasing up within a short distance of each other, a condo landlord's listing is up against all of them at once.
Where The Pressure Is Heaviest
CREB's district data for September 2026 shows how differently this plays out across the city.
| CREB district, Sept. 2026 | Apartment sales | Inventory | Months of supply | Benchmark | Y/Y change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City Centre | 142 | 819 | 5.77 | $297,900 | -8.08% |
| North East | 8 | 123 | 15.38 | $249,500 | -13.07% |
| East | 10 | 43 | 4.30 | $209,800 | -13.13% |
| South | 44 | 203 | 4.61 | $271,900 | -9.22% |
| North | 31 | 145 | 4.68 | $298,400 | -9.02% |
| West | 38 | 148 | 3.89 | $321,700 | -6.62% |
| Total city | 343 | 1,816 | 5.29 | $291,400 | -8.28% |
City Centre is where most of the apartment market sits. It accounts for 819 of the city's 1,816 apartment listings, so buyers there have the most choice. The North East's 15.38 months of supply comes from only eight sales, so a few deals either way would move that figure a lot. Even so, both the North East and East posted year-over-year benchmark drops above 13%. West had the tightest apartment conditions in the city.
CMHC says much of the new purpose-built supply went into its Southwest, Southeast and Northwest zones. CMHC zones and CREB districts use different boundaries, so this table shows where pressure is concentrated. It doesn't show that any particular building caused a particular price change. A renter browsing listings also isn't limited to one district, so a free month in one part of the city can pull tenants away from condos in another.
What This Changes At The Offer Table
For a seller, the comparable sales that matter are no longer just the other units in the building. An investor buyer will compare the likely rent against what new buildings nearby are offering after concessions. An owner-occupant can compare the monthly cost of owning against a lease with a free month and parking included. That's a big reason a comparative market analysis this fall needs to account for local rental offers as well as recent resale prices.
For a buyer, CREB's September 2026 numbers describe a market with time and options. Apartment new listings outpaced sales by more than two to one: 717 against 343. Year-to-date months of supply was 4.96, up from 3.75 at the same point in 2025. CREB says seasonally adjusted apartment prices kept falling in September. So the drop wasn't only the usual autumn slowdown.
CMHC's mid-year update expects this source of competition to fade over the next few years, because condo apartment completions are projected to fall sharply. The University District and East Village projects above show that rental completions keep coming into 2027.
FAQ
Are Calgary rents still falling? Asking rents for apartments and condos averaged $1,825 in August 2026. That was down 0.2% from July and 4.5% from a year earlier, according to Rentals.ca and Urbanation. Rents paid by existing tenants can behave differently from asking rents, and CMHC reports that average rents on occupied units were still rising nationally.
Are row homes seeing the same thing? To a lesser extent. In September 2026, CREB's row benchmark was $412,400, down 5.54% from a year earlier, with 4.45 months of supply. CREB says competition from new row units has weighed on resale activity.
Is the CREB release figure of a six percent apartment drop correct? The September release text lists the row and apartment declines as "eight per cent and six per cent." CREB's detailed statistics package shows apartments down 8.28% and row homes down 5.54%, and those are the figures used here.
If you're pricing a Calgary condo this fall, or weighing one against a lease with free months attached, I'm happy to put the resale comparables and nearby rental offers side by side so you can see the full picture before you decide. Let's connect through Trenton Pittner- 1670274 Alberta LTD.
