How to read those four numbers
Those are the figures that actually describe market conditions, and they update automatically with each CREB® release, so what you are reading is current rather than whatever was true when this was written.
- Sales to new listings is the most useful single indicator. Broadly, under 40% favours buyers, 40–60% is balanced, and above 60% favours sellers.
- Months of supply is how long it would take to sell everything currently listed at the current pace. Under two months is tight; four or more gives buyers real leverage.
- Benchmark price is a like-for-like measure of a typical home, which is why it is more useful than average price — averages move when the mix of what sold changes, not just when values do.
Why "is it a good time" is usually the wrong question
Almost nobody buys a home as a pure investment decision. People buy because a lease is ending, a family grew, a job moved, a relationship changed, or the stairs stopped working. In those situations the market is context, not the deciding factor.
The questions that actually determine whether you should buy now:
- Is your income stable, and would it survive a change of job?
- Do you have the down payment plus closing costs, without draining every reserve?
- Can you carry the payment at a renewal rate meaningfully higher than today's?
- Do you expect to stay put roughly five years or more?
Four yeses and the market matters much less than you think. A no on any of them and a favourable market will not rescue the decision.
When waiting is genuinely the right call
Waiting makes sense when you are close on the down payment and a few more months materially changes your position; when your employment is about to change; when you have just arrived in the city and do not yet know which community suits you; or when you would be buying at the absolute top of what you can carry.
Waiting to time the market is a different thing from waiting because you are not ready, and the second is a much better reason. In thirty years here we have watched far more people hurt by buying something they could not comfortably carry than by buying in the wrong quarter.
See also: how much house can I afford in Calgary?