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.