Sharing economy proving controversial in Calgary and beyond

Share and share alike: for better or worse, it might be Calgary's new unofficial slogan.

Whether it's a home, room, or even a parking spot, Calgarians are proving to be big believers in divvying up their assets, with the controversial Uber car-sharing app and several other share-based service-providers gaining footholds in the local market.

Yet despite offering revenue-generating opportunities, services like AirBnB and Uber, also present some risks to providers, warn legal experts.

Calgary vacancy rates quadruple from last year: CMHC

Calgary's once-cramped rental market has space to spare, and it could have implications for the city's new and resale home sectors.

In its recent fall rental survey, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation's (CMHC) reported vacancy rates in Calgary's rental sector has nearly quadrupled over the previous year, jumping to 5.3 per cent in October from 1.4 per cent at the same time last year.

"The call volume has dropped off considerably in the last 12 months," said Mainstreet Equity Corp. CEO Bob Dhillon, whose Calgary-based real estate company owns and operates rental properties in the Calgary area, as well as in British Columbia and Saskatchewan.

Renters with kids face uphill battle

After her marriage broke down in 2013, Kelly Farley needed to find a home to rent for her and her two teen daughters. She wanted to stay close to the northwest Calgary neighbourhood where the girls had grown up and to keep them in the same schools.

Eventually she found the main floor of a house; another tenant lived in the basement. It wasn't the best situation, but things got worse before they were better.

The basement tenant moved out and the landlord decided to sell the house. Then, just weeks after Farley moved out, the landlord relisted the main-floor unit — for more money than Farley had been paying, and more than she could afford.

"It was a grim search and I became desperate," said Farley of her house-hunting search. "When you have kids and you're going through a family breakdown, as a renter, all you want to know is that you have a safe, stable place to land."

Will an increase in vacancy rates push down housing demand? 

Calgary has long had a reputation as a difficult place to rent – a reputation confirmed for much of last year when the city's vacancy rate hovered below one per cent.

Yet market uncertainty brought upon by oil patch woes have painted a much different picture in 2015, with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) reporting vacancy rates in the city as high as 3.2 per cent.

While good news for renters, it poses as potential bad news for home sellers, notes ATB Financial chief economist Todd Hirsch.

New listings up; Calgarians making the choice to buy in tight rental market

Not even a snowy spring kept sales and listings this April from increasing over last years' numbers.

CREB®'s monthly stats reported new residential listings for April at 3,754 units, an eight per cent increase compared to the same time last year.

"[Buying] made the most sense," said Sarah Hammond, a previous homeowner who purchased a home in the
southeast with her boyfriend, a firsttime buyer. "I already owned a condo so was not interested in trying to fight
the rental market to pay. Basically mortgage payments are the same or less than rental fees right now."