Aakash Kalwint has been renting in urban Edmonton for less than a year, but he’s already extending his lease. The 29-year-old newcomer to Canada manages a team that works on application security for Amazon and is able to work his job remotely from anywhere in the world. His wife also secured a job with the University of Alberta, which is what brought them to the city. Now, they live at Southpark on Whyte Avenue, developed and managed by One Properties.
The rental lifestyle works well for Kalwint and his wife. He wanted to be able to make friends and build a community, which he’s been able to do at Southpark. Through the various in-building events that the property managers put on, like cocktail nights and coffee tastings, Kalwint has made new friends and settled into Edmonton quite comfortably. “There are people who are coming to Edmonton from all parts of the world. So, it is actually fun exploring different cultures,” he says.
Kalwint represents the city renter who leads a busy lifestyle that prioritizes work, social life, and fun while limiting time spent managing a home. He’s the type of renter that so many developers have seen in market research, which has resulted in a plethora of new amenity-stacked rentals coming up all over the city.
“These are folks with good incomes who are getting on with their careers,” says VP of Mixed-Use Development for One Properties Tom Burr. “But they are choosing to live in rental housing as opposed to owning.” When planning One Properties’ recent downtown apartment, Citizen on Jasper, Burr noted that “extra amenities really help provide a platform for building a community.”
Citizen on Jasper, like Southpark and so many others, focuses on amenities as huge selling features. It has an outdoor hot tub, rooftop lounge and a multisport simulator that can get you playing golf, soccer, and many other games even when it’s -40 Celsius. Like so many of these properties, Citizen also has a fitness centre, guest suites and heated underground parking. These living situations don’t sacrifice smaller spaces for smaller living. “I think the investment in amenities is really there to allow residents to live larger than their individual apartment,” says Burr, “It’s an extension of the home.”
But it’s not just the amenities and central location that attracts this young rental demographic. “No one can really buy, even though we still have great real estate opportunities in Edmonton and Calgary,” says David Bittman, leasing coordinator for a new building called The View.
With such a rent-focused market, the developers of The View had to completely shift strategies with the building. Bittman says it was supposed to be a condo building and had only “48 suites left to be sold” out of the building’s 178. But then, in the summer of 2022, the economy went “topsy turvy,” and potential buyers backed out, forcing developer Westrich Pacific to transition the entire building into rentals.
The tenants of the building — many of them students, young professionals, and downsizing retirees — are in a building fitted for condo specifications. They include Samsung appliances, and varying features from room to room like California walk-in closets and floor-to-ceiling windows. And, fitting the building’s namesake, the view is incredible — it towers over the river valley.
Westrich’s Garneau building will open to renters this year, with three other rental buildings under construction.
While Westrich Pacific is capitalizing on a rental market, One Properties has been planning for it. “So little new rental housing [being] built in Canada for several decades meant there was an undersupply of a high-quality product,” says Burr. “The market demand is changing, and we are certainly seeing a shift in appetite from owner occupation into more rental housing.”
To ensure that the demand for rentals is being met, the City has shifted policy to make new builds more lucrative for developers, including a tax reform that used to put rental developers at a disadvantage. City council approved the cut in February, 2023, and will give owners of rental apartments an 11.7 per cent tax cut over five years. Burr says, “[the old tax] was not consistent with the goals of the new City Plan to encourage urban density. The change brings in better alignment over time.”
City Councillor Anne Stevenson, who represents downtown’s ward, O-day’min, says the changes in tax policy saw a great response. “We want to keep that momentum going,”
Both Bittman and Burr agree that the affordability and flexibility of Edmonton’s rental market are huge reasons why it’s become so attractive. Statistics Canada says the population grew by over a million people in 2022, the highest it’s ever increased, and Alberta has seen 160,000 newcomers. It’s also seen the highest interprovincial migration with 11,000 net people coming to Alberta from other provinces in the fourth quarter of 2022. Bittman thinks “that flux of people coming from different provinces really enhances the experience,” as both Ontarians and Manitobans alike flock to The View.
With more people needing quick, flexible housing options as they enter the Edmonton market for the first time, comes an increasing number of people choosing to rent. “People choose the flexibility that comes with rental housing compared to traditional owner occupation,” says Burr, noting the unpredictable economy and changing work patterns as factors.
But for many, like Kalwint, the appeal comes from the lifestyle. Folks would rather spend more time playing than fixing leaky faucets — especially when year-round virtual golf is just a few floors down.
This article appears in the July/Aug 2023 issue of Edify
