Calgary's annual rental prices decrease — slightly — for first time in more than 3 years

Calgary has seen its first year-over-year decrease in asking rental prices since early 2021.

That's according to a new report by Rentals.ca and Urbanation, which said in September asking rents were down 1.1 per cent for one bedroom apartments and 2.6 per cent for two bedrooms compared to last year, to an average of $2,046 across all bedroom types.

While it isn't a big drop, it's still a significant change from what Calgarians have been seeing over the last few years.

"It's the first time we've seen this for quite some time," said Giacomo Ladas, associate director of communications with Rentals.ca, who noted the company hasn't seen a drop in Calgary's rental prices since February 2021.

"Calgary, as recently as earlier this year, was seeing double-digit annual rent growth, which it has been seeing for a few years now."

Calgary was once dubbed an affordable oasis until around the COVID-19 pandemic, when Alberta's population began ballooning — sometimes in record numbers. The situation soon turned into what many now call a housing crisis as rental prices skyrocketed and rental vacancy rates shrunk to a near-decade low.

Some Calgarians turned to living in their vehicles, in motels and on campgrounds as they struggled to find an affordable place to rent.

With Alberta's population growth not showing any signs of slowing, the recent change is a little surprising to Charles St-Arnaud, chief economist with Alberta Central. But looking at the data, he says it's likely thanks to new housing supply coming onto the market.

Last year, Calgary broke an all-time record for new residential builds, reaching a total of 19,579 units. In the first six months of this year, construction began on another 11,178 housing units — up 38 per cent from the same period in the previous year.

He says the change could also be a sign that renters' behaviour is changing.

"It could also be that as Calgary becomes more expensive, we've seen some of the rent increases become more and more important in Edmonton. So maybe people are choosing Edmonton versus Calgary because of that," said St-Arnaud.

According to the report, the prices of one and two bedroom apartments in Edmonton are up by eight per cent from last year. Other municipalities such as Lethbridge, Grande Prairie and Red Deer also saw significant growth.

Ladas called Saskatchewan "the newer version of Alberta" as rents in that province continue to increase, but remain relatively affordable for now.

A welcome change for renters, advocates

Back in Calgary, Meaghon Reid is welcoming the relief for renters. She's the executive director of poverty reduction organization Vibrant Communities Calgary. 

"While it's a pretty modest decrease, I do think it means we're heading in the right direction and that's really positive," said Reid.

She says many Calgarians likely don't feel like affordability has improved much at this point, but she hopes it gives renters who have been facing significant increases for years some hope about the future.

"This is maybe the very beginning of us starting to see [the rental market] cool down a little."

However, Reid noted the decrease in rents are for one and two bedrooms — while rents for three bedrooms have increased by 0.1 per cent.

She says that puts families in an especially difficult position, and it's critical that moving forward, Calgary's housing starts include units with three or more bedrooms.

That's the case for Tia Moore, whose family of five has moved three times in the last two years. She says each time was a struggle to find a suitable home they could afford.

"The biggest problem that we're finding is that anything that we've been able to get into that is in our price range is set to be torn down," said Moore.

She says her current rental — which her family has to be out of in six months — is also set to be demolished for a new development. But she's choosing to remain optimistic.

"I'm so welcoming this little bit of a price decrease," she said. "Hopefully it's a sign that things will get better … and by the time we have to move, there will be more that's available in our price range."

St-Arnaud says the longevity of this trend is dependent on whether housing supply will continue coming onto the market at the current pace.