Calgary’s Rental Market
Updated August 1, 2021
This information was collected on August 13, 2021 from www.rentfaster.ca
The Calgary rental market is starting to heat up! Power Properties’ northwest portfolio has a vacancy rate of 0.5%, that’s right half-a-percent, while our east portfolio is also less than 1%, and our south portfolio (which has the highest proportion of apartment condos) is at 4%. The detached housing market and even townhouses are experiencing very strong demand. The only segment that is not on fire is the apartment condo market, but even that is seeing improved demand.
You’ll start to see Property Managers recommending rental increases almost across the board. While many landlords have expressed concerns about raising rents while there is still a pandemic underway, the reality is that many tenants have not had an increase in rent in over two years (as rental increases were prohibited last summer), and in some cases, their original rent was higher than what they are currently paying. It is important to maintain market rent as this provides you with increased income, which provides you with money to properly maintain your property, which in turn allows you to continue to attract quality tenants.
Typically, a Property Manager will not recommend a large increase in rent when renewing a lease even if other comparable properties are higher, as there is an inherent value to keeping a good tenant and avoiding the cost of finding a new tenant and possibly vacancy costs. In many neighbourhoods there are zero available properties, which means if your tenants want to stay in the neighbourhood (and school district), they will agree to a reasonable increase. It is unlikely someone will be willing to pack up their house, hire movers or rent a Uhaul for the sake of $50/month. Some tenants will try to negotiate when we increase the rent, but the reality is when they look at what is available and at what price, they usually decide to stay and agree to the increase.
Written by Jamie Palmer, President/Broker of Power Properties Ltd.
Jamie Palmer is the President and Broker of Power Properties. He holds a Certified Property Manager (CPM®) designation, the highest designation in Property Management in North America. He earned an Honors degree from the University of Toronto, and he has over two decades of experience in property management.
Power Properties was established in 1980, and is a member of the Canadian Real Estate Association, the Real Estate Institute of Canada, and the Calgary Residential Rental Association. They currently manage over a quarter billion dollars in residential real estate and collect over one million dollars in rent each month.
