The difference a year makes

In the summer of 2007 the vacancy rate in Calgary was less than 1%. To find an apartment meant a mad dash to scoop up the place before anyone else. A 1 bedroom apartment typically around 1200 dollars a month & a two bedroom 1500 dollars or higher.

Today, 1 year later, the vacancy rate is 3.5% and finding an apartment is easy. A friend of mine went looking for an apartment and discovered a place in Mission...that was empty for two months. My old rental (I've also moved) took SIX weeks to fill. There were 1 bedroom units in the building that were empty for 3 months. I recently saw a bachelor apartment on 25th Ave that was for rent for 635 a month...and was available for nearly 3 weeks. 1 year ago, this would have been gone in 1 hour.

Number of "rentals" on rentfaster.ca in 2007 - 450 on average
Number of "rentals" on Rentfaster.ca in 2008 - 1700 on average

Condo prices are the same. When I moved to Calgary last year, prices averages about 350 grand in my neighborhood. Last week, I saw a retrofitted condo going for 189K. Given I live in a desired urban neighborhood, I suspect things are cheaper elsewhere. There are also a LOT of places for sale now, there are pages of listings.

I get the strong feeling people are leaving this city and going home. With Saskatchewan and BC having booming economies, people are returning to their roots where there are jobs & family. Saskatchewan was once a run down have not province & it's now an economic tiger thanks to farming, potash & oil. Prices for homes in Saskatoon have gone up nearly 100% in the past 2 years.

With oil at 142 dollars a barrel, Calgary is doing very well right now. Yet, I think people have left & it's made the job market even better & made renting easy. I'm seeing alot of Ontario license plates now. I assume the crap economy in the east is forcing people to move west ?

A year ago you could come to this city and find some kind of work within a few days. Now...the good part is you can come here and find an apartment within a day too. And have choice.

I do have to wonder where things will go tho. Oil is very high and in the past 6 months natural gas prices have doubled. This will increase drilling & that'll fire up the economy even more. High energy hurts everyone...but us...mostly.

The land of the SUV

When you move to Alberta, you'll notice two things. One is that it's normal to pay 7 dollars for a box of cereal & second is that about half the population appears to own an SUV or a giant Ford Pickup truck. In fact, I've seen a Ford F450, a truck I had no idea existed. It's big. You'll also see a whole stack of Hummers on the road or taking up two spots in the parking lot.

You know, if one was a farmer or tradesman, I can see the need for a large pickup truck. It's obvious you need that towing/hauling power..but exactly why does a guy living in the city core who works in an office need this thing for? I have a few friends who own large trucks and the high prices of fuel are making a top up of gas cost about 150 bucks PER WEEK. Imagine paying over 600 dollars a month just to drive a truck simply because you want one. Given that these things get about 15 mph, it's costing these guys 6 bucks (gallon of gas) to drive to the mall & back. And I thought it was expensive to fill up my Echo at nearly 50 bucks for regular gas. I've been mulling getting a Smart Car because I have no need for back seats & they apparently get about 600 kms per 22 litres of Diesel.

Found this sticker on a paper box outside the Purple Perk in Mission (where I live). Sorta sums up my feelings of the whole Big truck small dick thing

The City of Rain

It has finally stopped raining in Calgary. Rain is apparently unusual in Calgary but you wouldn't have known it this year. From about Mid May to the first week of June, it rained incessantly. I lived along the Elbow River until June 1st and had underground parking. The risk of rising rain water was so bad I started staying out of town figuring I'd come down to my car one morning to find it floating in a sea of sewage/river water. I came home one weekend to find everything sand bagged and the Elbow River about 13 feet deeper than it usually was. Even the ducks left town for the weekend. The Elbow River isn't large, but it does go thru some very wealthy areas of Calgary where multimillion dollar homes sit very close to the bank. I have...NO idea who built these houses here, or why but they had no sense in your head. I don't think you need a degree in Engineering to say "no..let's not put a house 5 feet from the banks of a river that fills up from melting mountain snow.