WATCH ABOVE: Many rental apartments and houses in Calgary are vacant leading to a drop in prices. As Stefan Keyes reports that’s great news for renters.
CALGARY – If you are looking for somewhere to rent in Calgary, the market has made a move in your favour.
“I think the downturn in our economy is the major thing,” said Gerry Baxter of the Calgary Residential Association.
A weakened economy has meant a slowdown in the population boom, with some tenants moving out of province. So as people move out, there are less people wanting to move in.
“All of a sudden, the ‘in-migration’ just slowed right down; and then vacancy starts to creep up,” said David McIlveen with Boardwalk Rental Communities. “So, what we do is we start to offer our existing tenants and new tenants better deals.”
The cost to rent a home or an apartment is dropping. In some cases, the discount is in the hundreds when it comes to renting a house.
McIlveen says the vacancy rate has not been this high since 2008 — the same year of the global recession.
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