Rental Property in Calgary

[Rokhaya Sidikou]

Hi all,

I am new here.

I am looking for advice on investing in real estate in Calgary particularly buying and holding.

I live in Ontario so no much experience with the Calgary market. 

Thank you,

[Bryan Waller]

If you're considering Calgary, make sure you're ready for a potentially rocky road for the next few years, maybe decades. House prices are flat in general since 2015, there was a net negative migration (or close if i remember correctly) in 2020, and the key driver of the economy is in roughly the same place as North American automobile manufacturing was in the last 25 years, long term decline in jobs, reduced wages, and substitution from cheaper offshore options.

If you subscribe to a deep contrarian approach, go for it, maybe we are at the worst and it can only get better. The landlord/tenant rules are favourable to the landlord compared to BC or ON, debt is incredibly cheap and people believe Calgary will recover. Somewhere in the middle is the truth.

Buy and hold in Calgary will be most effective in older neighbourhoods that are closer to downtown than the fringe suburbs. Prices are more realistic to rental returns on the east side, than the west, but churn on tenants may be higher.

The condo supply in Calgary is huge so I would be wary of that. A lot of condos, especially near downtown, were bought as rental investments. Use the CMHC to get some stats.

Bryan