News
Aug. 16, 2017 | Kathleen Renne
Challenges continue for Calgary's rental market
"Very cautious optimism" is how Gerry Baxter, executive director of the Calgary Residential Rental Association, describes the industry's view of Calgary's current rental landscape.
While Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) pegged Calgary's rental vacancy rate at seven per cent last fall – the highest it's been in more than 25 years – Baxter says he thinks residential vacancies in the city are actually closer to the eight-to-10-per-cent range.
"There's been some slight improvement in the rental market over the last few weeks, but it's still a challenge to rent," said Baxter, attributing the slack rental market to the economic downturn that started in late 2014 and early 2015.