The Calgary Real Estate Board says January's new listings fell to a level not seen since the last 90s as home sales declined 40 per cent from the year before.

The Albertan board says new listings for the month amounted to 1,852, a 25 per cent drop from January 2022.

Meanwhile, home sales totalled 1,199 compared with 2,004 in the January prior.

The board attributed the slowdown to higher lending rates that are causing many buyers to seek out lower-priced homes and preventing some from upgrading to other properties.

The average price of a home in the region hit $508,189 in January, a less than one per cent drop from a year ago.

However, the benchmark price of $520,900 was five per cent higher than January 2022.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 1, 2023.