City Vacancy Rates Jump to 4%

The once white-hot Calgary real estate market boasted a vacancy rate of 0.5% back in 2006. According to this article, alot has changed in the past 2 years. Inventory has slowly built up to uncontrollable levels and property sales have dissipated. This has resulted in rising vacancy rates in Calgary to as high as 4%. Earlier this month, CHMC had forecasted the vacancy rate to be at 2%. It's currently double the forecasted level. With so much inventory available, the "bitter" renter has more options to choose from.

The pendulum is clearly swinging the other way. With vacancy rates much higher than anticipated, many landlords will have to be competitive (ie. lower rents) in order to attract tenants. By lowering rates, their carrying costs are adversely increased with reduced rent revenue. A quick peak at rentfaster.ca/calgary.php will reveal a plethora of rental listings.

The augementing vacancy rate is simply just another symptom of the real estate market heading into a (severe) correction.

Stay tuned.

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