Where it genuinely works
It earns its keep when the two things compared are nearly identical: two units in one building on different floors, two of the same builder model in one phase, two similar bungalows on a block. Held that tight, a gap in the per-foot number is real information.
Where it falls apart
- Small homes cost more per foot by arithmetic. A kitchen, two bathrooms, a furnace and a roof cost roughly the same in a small home as a large one. Spread over fewer feet, the number is higher. That is not a premium being charged.
- The basement is usually not in it. A fully developed lower level is space you are paying for, and in Alberta it is not part of the measured area. Why that is →
- Lot, garage and position are invisible to it. A wide lot backing a park and a narrow one backing an alley can show the same figure.
- Condition and age do not appear. A gut renovation and an untouched original interior measure the same.
- Bungalow against two-storey is the classic trap. A bungalow buys more roof, more foundation and more lot per finished foot, so it prices higher per foot than a two-storey of the same size — in every Calgary community, every year.
Price per square foot is a tiebreaker between near-identical homes. Used to compare a bungalow to a two-storey, or an inner-city infill to a suburban home, it delivers a confident answer that is simply wrong.
What to use instead
Comparable sales, adjusted. Not what similar homes are asking — what they sold for, same property type, close by, recent enough to reflect current conditions, then adjusted for the differences you can see. Sold prices require a free registered account under Alberta's MLS® data rules.
That is more work than dividing two numbers, which is why per-foot pricing stays popular. Use it as a sanity check that flags a listing worth a second look, then set it down. How far back comparables should go →