|
|
Article: Narrowing the gap: with rising rents, Alberta is finally joining the rest of the world. Shifting the blame: why the Alberta government has failed to protect tenants and what it can do about it.(REAL ESTATE REPORT)
- Article from:
- Western Standard
- Article date:
- July 2, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 Western Standard. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Driving through Edmonton, Calgary or Kamloops over the last few days I realized: no one is building rental units. You can see new hotels everywhere, you can see new shopping malls and you can see new sub-divisions, but what you can't see is new rental accommodation. Why is that?
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
One reason is that rents are too low for the construction costs. Until just very recently, Alberta had rents well below world levels. Despite very high average wages, Alberta still has rents that are just catching up to international levels. This article examines briefly why rents will rise another 50 per cent to 85 per cent in addition to the 30 per cent ...