Neither is better — they suit different buyers, and which is more expensive depends entirely on what you are buying. Aspen Woods has the more expensive detached market ($1,375,000 against $1,100,000) and the deeper supply of large estate homes. West Springs has the busier market overall, more retail and restaurants inside the community, and — against most expectations — the more expensive townhouses and apartments.
Choose Aspen Woods for a larger home and a quieter, more established setting. Choose West Springs for a newer house, more inside the community, and more homes trading at any given time.
On This Page
Is Aspen Woods more expensive than West Springs?
In detached housing, clearly yes. The median detached home in Aspen Woods sold for $1,375,000 over the last twelve months against $1,100,000 in West Springs — a gap of about $275,000.
In attached housing, no — and this is the part that surprises people. West Springs townhouses posted a higher median ($555,000) than Aspen Woods townhouses ($530,308), and the same is true of apartments ($487,500 against $360,000). Aspen Woods is the more expensive community only if you are buying a house.
| Property type | Aspen Woods | West Springs | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Detached | $1,375,000 | $1,100,000 | Aspen Woods +$275,000 |
| Row / townhouse | $530,308 | $555,000 | West Springs +$24,692 |
| Apartment | $360,000 | $487,500 | West Springs +$127,500 |
Why the headline medians mislead. Aspen Woods’s all-types median is $885,000 and West Springs’s is $773,000, which makes Aspen Woods look about $112,000 more expensive. Almost all of that gap is property mix, not value. Compare like with like or you will draw the wrong conclusion.
Which one is the busier market?
West Springs, by a clear margin. It recorded 207 sales to Aspen Woods’s 164, sold marginally faster, and held a slightly higher sale-to-list ratio. For a buyer that means more choice and better comparable sales. For a seller it means more competition.
| Aspen Woods | West Springs | What it means | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales | 164 | 207 | West Springs trades more often, so there is more to choose from and more to price against |
| Median sold price (all types) | $885,000 | $773,000 | Not a like-for-like comparison — see the type breakdown below |
| Days on market | 36 | 32 | Both are normal for west Calgary; neither is a slow market |
| Sale-to-list | 98.3% | 99.1% | Both sell close to asking; little room for deep discounts |
| Year over year | -6.7% | +1.0% | Median movement, which is affected by which homes sold, not only by values |
| Homes on the market | 43 | 52 | Current supply |
| Months of supply | 3.1 | 3.0 | Both balanced; neither community is starved of inventory |
What actually separates them
Price aside, these two communities are more alike than most Calgary pairings — same corridor, same schools, same ring-road access, both built this century. The differences are real but they are differences of degree.
| Aspen Woods | West Springs | |
|---|---|---|
| Housing | Estate and executive detached, plus townhouse and apartment pockets | Executive detached with a larger share of attached and newer multi-family |
| Age of homes | Roughly 2000 onward, with the estate streets later | Roughly 2003 onward; parts still finishing |
| Lot sizes | Wider on the estate streets; standard elsewhere | Generally narrower than the Aspen estate streets |
| Shopping | Aspen Landing — groceries, services, a handful of restaurants | 85th Street retail plus its own newer commercial strip; more day-to-day options inside the community |
| Restaurants | Concentrated at Aspen Landing | More, and more spread out |
| Private schools | Webber Academy, Calgary Academy and Rundle nearby — the densest cluster in the city | Same cluster, a few minutes further |
| Walkability | Low. Most trips are car trips | Low, but slightly better within the newer pockets |
| Downtown commute | Bow Trail or 17th Ave; 69 Street LRT is a park-and-ride for most residents | Same corridors, marginally closer in |
| Ring road access | Very good | Very good |
| New construction | Largely built out; new supply is infill and the last estate lots | Still some newer multi-family and infill coming |
| Luxury inventory | Deeper — this is where the largest west-side homes are | Present but thinner at the top end |
| Community feel | Quieter, more established, more estate character | Busier, younger, more foot traffic around the retail |
From Crystal’s desk
I have lived in Aspen Woods for more than twenty years, and the honest summary is that people choose between these two on housing stock, not on lifestyle. The daily experience of living in Aspen Woods and living in West Springs is close to identical. Same drive, same schools, same weekend.
Where they genuinely diverge is at the top. If you want a large estate home on a wide lot, Aspen Woods has the depth and West Springs does not. Below that level, West Springs often gives you a newer house and more inside the community for the money.
The thing buyers underestimate is how differently individual pockets on the west side function. A street backing the escarpment and a townhouse complex a few blocks away are both the same community on paper and share almost nothing in price, buyer pool, or time on market. Comparing the two communities as wholes will not tell you what you need to know about the four streets you are actually choosing between.
Choose one or the other
| Choose Aspen Woods if… | Choose West Springs if… |
|---|---|
| You want a large estate or executive home and the widest choice of them on the west side | You want a newer executive home and would rather put the difference into the house than the lot |
| You value a quieter, more established, more residential feel | You want more shops and restaurants inside your own community |
| You want the deepest luxury resale pool on the west side, which matters when you sell | You are buying attached housing and want the busier, faster-moving market |
| You are buying a townhouse or apartment and want the lower entry price of the two | You want more homes trading, and therefore more comparable sales to price against |
What we see buyers struggle with
- Comparing all-types medians. The single most common error, and it is the reason this page breaks everything out by type.
- Assuming the more expensive community is the better buy. It is not a quality ranking. It reflects what gets built there.
- Shopping the bottom of Aspen Woods instead of the middle of West Springs. The cheapest home in the more expensive community is usually the one carrying the compromise — the busy road, the awkward layout, the deferred maintenance — and it is the hardest one to sell later.
- Underestimating the driving. Both communities are car-first. Families arriving from a walkable city consistently underestimate what that means in February.
- Treating school proximity as school access. The private schools nearby have their own admission processes and waitlists. Living close is not the same as getting in.
Compare them yourself
Aspen Woods vs West Springs
The same dataset this page uses, live. Note that the figures here are all property types combined — use the type table above for a like-for-like comparison.
Full community detail: Aspen Woods homes for sale and market data · West Springs homes for sale and market data · all of west Calgary.
Deciding between two west-side communities?
We work this corridor constantly and we live in it. Tell us the budget and the house you want and we will tell you which of the two actually has it — including when the answer is neither.
Next questions
Sources & method
All prices are median sold prices for August 2025 to July 2026, from Pillar 9™ MLS® data for the City of Calgary.
- Type medians are shown only where that type recorded at least 12 sales in the period. Aspen Woods recorded 81 detached, 45 row and 36 apartment sales; West Springs recorded 110, 51 and 36.
- Year-over-year figures compare medians, which move with the mix of homes that sold as well as with underlying values. Treat a single year's change as context, not as a valuation.
- Community characterisations — feel, walkability, retail — are our assessment from working and living in these communities, not measured scores.
- Full methodology and known limitations.