22 hours Ago By Joel Schlesinger, for the Calgary Herald
High prices. No problem. Canmore’s high-price resale housing market hasn’t dampened demand to start the year with a recent report suggesting demand is likely to continue to be strong for the rest of 2025.
“Canmore is the unicorn among rec markets,” says Anne-Elise Cugliari Allegritti, national director of research and communications for Royal LePage. “It really does march to its own drum, and it’s kind of an ultra-luxury market because of its unique location.” A day-trip for many Calgarians, and even a bedroom community for some high-salaried professionals willing to make the commute to the city, Canmore is among the highest priced recreational communities in Canada, as noted in the recent Royal LePage 2025 Spring Recreational Property Report .
It cites the average price for a single-family detached home there inched up about two per cent last year from 2023 to reach $1.68 million. Only Whistler, B.
C., had a higher average price at about $3.14 million, up five per cent year over year.
The report forecasts growth in across Canada’ recreational market this year with the average price of a single-family detached home in communities like Muskoka, Pigeon Lake, the Okanagan and Pemberton among dozens of others expected to collectively grow four per cent to reach $652,808 by the end of 2025. In Alberta, the forecast is for the average price to grow only about two per cent to almost $1.3 million, which Canmore elevates significantly.
Most other communities, like Lac Ste. Anne are priced below $700,000 even for waterfront properties in the province, the report shows. That said, the recreational market is coming off a slow 2024.
“All of our experts were saying that activity was slower last year,” says Cugliari Allegritti. “Ontario, we saw a 20-year low in sales activity.’” Sales now appear to be picking up in many communities, driven in part by lower interest rates for mortgages.
“It definitely has had a positive impact because, simply put, lower rates give the average person more borrowing power,” she says. Buyers in Canmore seeking single-family detached homes are typically less affected by interest rate movements, says Brad Hawker, realtor at The Hawker Betts Real Estate Team, Royal LePage Solutions in Canmore and Banff. “We’ve been busy,” he says.
“There is no sign of things slowing down.” Still, December and January were a little slower than past years, “but mid-February, March and April have been busy.” Buyers are a mix of recreational and locals who work in the Bow Valley.
While the ideal is to purchase a mountain-style home with an open main floor concept, plenty of natural light and exposed, rustic woodwork, condominium apartments are the entry point for many local buyers and even recreational ones. To that end, the average price for an apartment grew less than two per cent last year to $648,000. “A lot of the recreational buyers who are looking to be here part-time like the idea of someone else taking care of the maintenance,” Hawker notes, adding condominiums — be it apartment, townhome or semi-detached — are often their top choice.
Some may look to rent out units on a short-term basis, which is permitted in certain areas, he adds. “There are some that do it, like buyers who only come in the summer or winter,” Hawker says. “It’s more just to help offset the costs — the property taxes and condo fees, and maybe for the mortgage if they have one.
” Yet most recreational buyers purchase properties without mortgages, he adds. What’s more, demand will likely remain strong, as the report suggests, with more buyers possibly reconsidering wintering in the United States given the recent trade war threats. “I can’t say we’ve seen that yet,” Hawker says.
“But some clients with properties here and down south have mentioned they might sell their U.S. properties, but they haven’t done it yet.
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