Two different clocks run at once, and confusing them is why sellers make plans that do not work.
Days on market measures listing to accepted offer. It is the number quoted in market reports and the one most people mean.
Listing to possession is the one that matters for planning. It adds the condition period after acceptance — commonly a week or two — and then the gap to the possession date, which is negotiated and is frequently 30 to 60 days beyond that.
A home that sells in "12 days" may still be eight or ten weeks from you handing over the keys. Sellers who book movers off the days-on-market figure get caught.
Preparation, staging, repairs and photography take one to four weeks depending on how much needs doing. Worth doing properly: the first two weeks on market carry your best exposure, and launching before you are ready spends that on a listing that is not showing well. Staging best practices →
Current median days on market for Calgary, and how our own listings compare, are shown live on the market stats page rather than quoted here — a timeline written into a page is out of date within a quarter.