Three Sisters Mountain Village: What It Means for Prices

Three Sisters Mountain Village is the single biggest variable in Canmore real estate. The approved plans allow up to 7,000 homes and 15,000 people on more than 300 hectares: enough to roughly double the town over a generation, and after thirty years of tribunals, appeals and council votes, construction crews are finally in the ground. Here is what has actually been approved, what is being built right now, and what it realistically means for prices.

What is approved at Three Sisters Mountain Village?

The Three Sisters Mountain Village lands are covered by two area structure plans, both adopted by Canmore council in October 2023 after the Court of Appeal upheld a Land and Property Rights Tribunal order.

Three Sisters Village ASP

3,000–5,000 units

5,500–10,000 visitor and permanent population; 75 ha open space

Smith Creek ASP

1,000–2,150 units

2,200–4,500 population; up to 75,000 sq ft light industrial

Combined build-out

Up to 7,000 homes

Up to 15,000 people on 300+ ha, over decades (CBC, October 2025)

Three Sisters Village also allows about 602,000 square feet of retail and business space and 190,000 square feet of indoor recreation and entertainment. This is a village centre, not just housing. Together the plans are what would bring Canmore to its long-planned population of roughly 30,000.

What is being built right now?

Phase 1 of Three Sisters Village is 29.1 hectares in the northeast of the plan area, of which 25.27 hectares is developable land. Council approved the conceptual scheme and land use amendments unanimously on 23 April 2024. The phase carries 700 to 1,075 units at a density of 50 to 110 units per hectare, and an estimated population of 1,425 to 2,133.

The composition matters more than the headline number:

There are no single-family homes in this phase. It is townhomes, stacked townhomes, apartments and tourist homes, with roughly 30% open space including an off-leash dog park, playgrounds and a bike pump track.

By mid-2026 the Town had approved the first real buildings. Development permits cleared for 249 units in two five-storey apartment buildings at 700 and 800 Village Road (approved 9 June 2026) and 94 units in ten stacked townhouse buildings at 200 Yarrow Road (approved 25 June 2026). A further 76 units in nine townhouse and stacked-townhouse buildings at 100 Village Road were under review. The developer also reports more than 400 rental units planned in Phase 1, and 50 employee-housing beds already built at The Gateway with 150 more anticipated in 2027.

Smith Creek and the wildlife underpass

Smith Creek is the eastern half of Three Sisters Mountain Village, and it is on a different clock. Its Phase 1 covers roughly 21.58 hectares (about 53.34 acres) of detached homes, duplexes, townhouses, affordable housing and open space; the conceptual scheme and land use amendment were approved on 7 October 2025.

Development there cannot start until a wildlife underpass beneath the Trans-Canada Highway is complete. Wildlife fencing is already going in around the plan area, running through Stewart Creek golf course and around the eastern boundary to connect with existing highway fencing. In October 2025 the developer's director of strategy told CBC it would be "at least another year before you see construction activity out in the Smith Creek area" and that Phase 1 there should finish within five years.

The wildlife corridor is the reason this project remains contested. Bow Valley Engage and the Îyârhe (Stoney) Nakoda First Nation went to the Court of King's Bench in 2024 seeking a new environmental impact assessment and were refused; they sought a Court of Appeal hearing in early 2026. It is a live legal file, and any buyer should treat timelines as estimates.

How much of it is affordable housing?

A minimum of 10% of multi-residential units at base density must be affordable, and that can rise toward 20% where a builder takes up density bonusing. Alberta municipalities cannot mandate affordable housing outright, so these targets come out of negotiation. The developer says more than 50 affordable units have been proposed at the development permit stage, and that serviced land in Smith Creek Phase 1 has been transferred to the Town for up to 26 affordable units.

What does Three Sisters Mountain Village mean for Canmore prices?

Here is the part buyers get wrong in both directions. Thousands of approved units does not mean a price crash, and it does not mean nothing changes either.

Canmore recorded 483 residential sales in 2025 against average active inventory of about 129 listings. Against that, a few hundred completions a year is meaningful, but they arrive as townhomes, stacked townhomes and apartments, which means the pressure lands on the middle of the market first, not on South Canmore lots or Silvertip estate homes. The most likely outcome over the next few years is slower growth in the condo and townhome segments, more choice for buyers in that band, and very little change at the top.

Compare the pipeline against demand in the Canmore market forecast, and see the finished areas on the Three Sisters neighbourhood page and the planned ones on the Three Sisters Village page.

What this means if you're buying

If you want a new build here, get on the release lists now and treat published dates as intentions. The phases have moved before and will again. If you are buying an existing home in Three Sisters, walk the site plan and work out exactly what will be built behind you and when, because "mountain view" and "future apartment block" occupy the same piece of paper. And if you are waiting for this project to make Canmore cheap, do not hold your breath: the supply is real, but it arrives slowly, and it lands in the middle of the market rather than at the top.