Rental affordability crisis: How much has rent gone up in Calgary?

It’s hard to keep track of how quickly prices are rising on everything — but certain non-negotiables, like food and housing, are hitting people the hardest.

A report presented to Calgary City Council by the affordability task force says rent in the city is up 25 per cent over the past five years.

Paul Danison from rentals.ca, a popular property-searching website, says some types of housing are rising in price faster than others.

“Purpose-built and condo apartments, the average is up 23 per cent year-over-year, to a little over $1,900,” he said.

Rent across Canada continues to rise month over month for all types of properties and Calgary is no exception. (Courtesy rentals.ca)

That’s a far cry from the top price in the country, with Vancouver sitting at over $3,000 a month.

But Calgary’s increase is happening quicker than most places across Canada, with prices up more than four per cent month-over-month.

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Danison says the only place keeping pace with the rapid rise of Calgary’s rent are nearby, with Lethbridge and Red Deer also seeing sharp increases.

And it’s only expected to get worse as Calgary’s population continues to boom.

The task force says 75 new people per day are expected to move to Calgary in the next four years, leaving 110,000 people in need of housing – and that doesn’t include the people already living here.

Calgary is lagging behind other cities when it comes to a supply of affordable housing, according to the task force.

The city’s current stock is about 3.5 per cent of the market, while the national average sits at six per cent.

Danison says that rentals.ca currently has about 3,000 listings available.

This is the first in a five-story series by CityNews on rent affordability in Calgary. Follow along for more coverage on how the rising cost of housing is impacting Calgary and what is being done to address the problem.