Alberta Advantage? Province leads Canada in rent price increases

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Rent prices across Canada continued to moderate for a third consecutive month, but the numbers in Alberta tell a different story.

In a recent report by rentals.ca, data shows that Alberta remained the provincial leader for annual growth in apartment rents during November, posting a year-over-year increase of 16.1% to reach an average of $1,695.

Nationally, rents increased 8.4% year-over-year in November, compared to annual growth rates of 9.9% in October and 11.1% in September.

“Rent inflation in Canada is slowly starting to moderate, a trend being led by a notable slowdown in rents in the country’s most expensive big cities of Vancouver and Toronto,” Shaun Hildebrand, president of Urbanation, said in a statement.

“Renters are adjusting to record high housing costs by shifting into less expensive markets.”

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Edmonton overtook Calgary as the leader in rent growth amongst Canada’s largest markets in November, according to the report.

Asking rents for apartments in that city rose 11.9% from a year ago to reach an average of $1,472.

Alberta’s capital, however, remains one of Canada’s most affordable big city markets to rent in.

Only five other cities surveyed exceeded that price, but the number is an 11.9% spike from what it was last year.

Calgary sits at 23 out of 35 cities, with asking rents for apartments increased 10.4% over the past year to an average of $2,081.

Smaller markets across the province also contributed to the growth with asking rents for apartments increasing the fastest over the past year in Lloydminster at 17.2% and Red Deer at 17.1%.

Alberta roommate rents grew 18.8% year-over-year to an average of $877 in November, including an average of $914 in Calgary and $745 in Edmonton.

Rent inflation remained elevated despite a notable slowdown in Vancouver and Toronto, reads the report.

Asking rents for all residential property types in Canada averaged $2,174 in November, coming close to October’s record-high of $2,178 with a 0.2% month-over-month decrease.

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