Page 40 - 05_June-2025

the climate just “feels uncertain” for
making investments right now. “Buying a
home right now, it feels like an unpre-
dictable kind of thing. That impacts rent-
al, and people’s rental decisions and then
how we think about these buildings.”
But for some, like branding and mar-
keting consultant Anna Bohdanowicz,
renting isn’t just a necessity — it’s a long-
term strategy for stability and peace of
mind. She lives in Magrath Heights in the
southwest and enjoys a yard, a garage, and
a multigenerational home she rents with
her parents and two kids. It’s the perfect
layout for now. Once her kids move out,
she’ll downsize and won’t need to worry
about selling as a renter. In the meantime,
her focus is on her day job and making
memories with her family.
Bohdanowicz and her parents split the
cost, which helps them get more bang for
their buck. For her parents — Polish im-
migrants who spent most of their careers
in Kuwait where foreigners can’t own
land — it’s nothing particularly new. But
even after so many years of building their
professional careers in Canada, they still
prefer the renters’ life. Evidently, so does
their daughter.
away. When she travels, which is often,
she walks out the door with everything
else handled. Flexibility lets her choose
the job, the city, the life. And if what
she wants changes, it’s no sweat. “I was
kind of able to build my life by design,”
she says.
In theory, Bourgeois could enjoy all
the features of her carefully designed life
and build equity. That was certainly the
“sell” to many Edmontonians in the early
2000s who bought into the idea of condos
as entry-level homeownership. With
down payments as low as $12,000 and
mortgages about equal to or less than
average rental fees, why would you, as
they say, “pay someone else’s mortgage?”
But people are beginning to understand
that owning a condo is not the same as
owning a house. Instead of one party
charting the course and making main-
tenance decisions, condo owners must
work with every other owner in the
building. It requires the same kind of
long-term planning that owning a house
does, if not more, all with unpredictable
costs, such as rising condo fees and
dreaded special assessments.
“That’s going to throw their financial
“
 WHY WOULD SOMEBODY WANT
TO BE LOCKED IN FOR THE NEXT
10 YEARS?”
–DYLAN KELLEY, TWENTY8 CAPITAL
For Bourgeois, renting isn’t a step back
— it’s a step toward living on her own
terms. If her old dream was a home in
Westmount, the new dream became a
character apartment in Westmount, living
above local shops and eateries. It’s a
spacious, open-concept place with a ’70s
California vibe — very Melrose Place.
She can easily stroll to her office in the
morning, pick up fresh groceries on the
way home and cap off the day with a craft
brew and a doughnut from her favourite
local spots. Bourgeois embraces a lock-
and-leave lifestyle, trusting her landlord to
keep things running smoothly while she’s
situation totally upside down,” says Dylan
Kelley of Twenty8 Capital, an Edmonton
developer whose work also includes
“reconversions” — that is, buying up
entire condo buildings and turning them
into rentals. Sometimes, they even end
up renting them back to the sellers. “Why
would somebody want to be locked in for
the next 10 years?”
The idea of reconversions came to him
after the father of a family friend passed
away, leaving behind a series of condos
he had intended as a nest egg for his fam-
ily. But they were bleeding money. What
started as a boon quickly became a bur-
40 EDify. JUNE.25
den. “He worked his fingers to the bone
to support the family,” Kelley says. “And
to just see that dwindle away was an
eye-opener for me. That’s when I first
thought something’s not right here.”
Indeed, Edmonton condo prices have
plummeted over the past decade, reflected
in a 17.8 per cent drop in median price
according to Royal LePage. While Toronto
condo prices more than doubled in the
same period, Edmonton owners watched
their properties lose value — deterring
buyers rather than attracting them. That
lack of confidence in ownership has
reshaped the housing market, slowing
condo construction while fuelling a surge
in purpose-built rentals.
Last year broke records for new housing
construction in Edmonton, with homes
built for ownership and units built for
rent reaching nearly the same total.
Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corpora-
tion data shows a slight edge for owner-
ship over rentals (6,453 starts over 6,307
starts), but the difference between the two
has never been narrower.
OWN IT OR OWE IT?
Bohdanowicz was a new homeowner a
decade ago, back when she was married.
During her separation, she sat down to
run the costs. In just three years, she’d
spent over $20,000 on just property tax
and home insurance. She didn’t even add
up how much it cost to repair the boiler
tank. And the fence and roof were going
to be next.
“I realized, my God, I’m just going to
spend my children’s entire childhood
fixing things and living in anticipation
that something is going to go wrong.”
Ditching homeownership felt like
lifting a weight. No more YouTube tutorials
on fixing toilets. No more surprise costs.
Instead, she works with a financial advisor,
invests part of her steady income, and
saves the rest for travel. Last year, they
went to Portugal. This year, it’s the
Dominican Republic.
A house is an investment, she admits.
But for her, to buy a house now would
mean having to sell it after her kids moved
out. If interest rates hike up or a recession
hits and she couldn’t make payments,
Bohdanowicz’s house and all its value
could just be taken. “You don’t really own
a home until you pay it off.” ED.