Calgary residential landlords are being forced to adjust to a changing market as vacancy rates rise and rental rates fall.
It's taking landlords longer to rent their units than it did a year ago, according to the Calgary Residential Rental Association.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. still pegs Calgary's rental vacancy rate at less than 1 per cent, but local landlords say it has spiked higher due to a drop in oil prices and subsequent layoffs.
Some landlords are already offering incentives, while others have lowered their rents, particularly those who were renting at higher levels.
Mainstreet Equities, one of Alberta's biggest landlords, reports first-quarter 2016 vacancy rates at 7.5 per cent, compared to 6 per cent a year earlier.
Adjusting rents downward is not something landlords in Calgary are used to, with vacancy ratesˇamong the lowest in the country for several years,ˇaccording toˇDarren Paddock, who runs the website RentFaster.ca
The RentFaster web site had 1,342 apartments listed for rent in Calgary this March, compared 1,008 at the same time last year. The average asking rent had fallen from $1,465 to $1,253 in the same period.
A search by Western Investor, however, turned up many Calgary apartments for rent for less than $900.
