What is the price of progress in a modern day boomtown?
A lot has been said about Alberta and its opportunity for the good life. In 2005 Calgary’s population grew by more than 98 people a day—an increase of 35,681 from 2004. There is a cost, however, to living in this modern day boomtown.
The gross amount of people moving to Calgary, Edmonton and Fort McMurray has created a huge strain on housing. Low income and so-called “affordable housing” has basically disappeared. At times these cities are facing vacancy rates hovering around 1% in both residential and commercial rental units. This isn’t much of a problem if you can afford the $500,000 price tag on a new home. If you can’t, however, you’re pretty much fucked.
The City of Calgary has seen the price of a single detached home increase 27% in the last year. That puts the average price of a single family home at $435,802. It gets even crazier in the condo market. The average price of a condo in Calgary is now $301,777. That is a 40% increase since February 2006.
Edmonton is facing a similar problem. It is estimated that in that city approximately 1,000 apartments are lost each year to condo conversions. The condo conversion problem is not specific to Edmonton. It is also becoming a major problem for Calgary’s inner city renters. I’ve seen this situation play out all too-really for many of my friends. One day they wake up in a nice apartment with a great central location and an affordable monthly rental rate. The next day they wake with a notice that their rent is doubling or, worse yet, they are given notice to vacate. Even though the landlord was “nice” enough to give them plenty of notice of the pending wallet-rape or eviction, the possibility of finding replacement housing at a reasonable rate is nearly impossible/ I know its just business and if I was the building owner I would be cashing in as well—the market is just way too hot not to.
But what are the people supposed to do? How long will it be until my apartment is turned into a condo I can’t afford? I know it’s coming. There are two down the block from me that are being converted as you read this. And another one being torn down. It’s tough being a college student in this town. Like I need to worry about this.
Photo by Todd (doublecool)
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- Published:
- Mar 7 2007 / 6:55 AM
- Author:
- Ross Werry
- Category:
- Business
- Tags:
- alberta, business, calgary, canada, condo, development, economy, housing, real estate
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