By Shaun Penner

Rent

Grande Prairie home rental prices in bottom third of country

Aug 21, 2019 | 11:25 AM

When it comes to renting a home in the Swan City, it might be cheaper than you think.

A report produced by rentals.ca shows that Grande Prairie ranks 28th when compared to 37 other cities across Canada, which includes five others in Alberta, when it comes to average rent prices.

The report, based on the month of July, shows that the average rent price for a one-bedroom unit in the Swan City was going for $1,057. A two-bedroom goes for an average of $1,256. That ranks below the likes of Calgary (19), Fort McMurray (25) and Edmonton (26) but does show a higher average than both Red Deer (31) and Lethbridge (33).

Angie Peters is a Broker with Royal Lepage in Grande Prairie who also heads up their property management team. She says that people’s view on rent prices is heavily dependent upon their income.

“Rental prices, when you compare them to our average income, I would say are low,” said Peters. “If you’re in the lower income group, then of course it would seem like rent prices are quite high.”

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“I would say that we have fair rent prices, for sure.”

The point of those who may not make higher wages does ring particularly true when tied to a recently released report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, that showed just a select few neighbourhoods across the country would be truly affordable to a single person working for minimum wage.

Though Grande Prairie specifically was not included in the survey, Calgary, Edmonton and Lethbridge all showed a single person would need to make upwards of $20 an hour to be able to afford a one-bedroom apartment in any of those communities.

With that said, Peters understands that those households that do not have a dual income might find it quite difficult.

“For that segment of our population, where maybe it’s a single parent or only one parent is working, rent would seem very expensive,” said Peters. “For that segment of the population that makes the top half possible, it is expensive.”

Peters also noted that Grande Prairie has a low vacancy rate, which also has an affect on rental prices in the city. Those are mostly the case because of the transient nature of workers here, which leads to a lot of quick turnover for people who are juts looking for short term housing.

“Rent prices are most accurately re-adjusted, when someone moves out and a new person needs to move in.”

The latest data from November 2018 shows that Grande Prairie had a vacancy rate of 3.6%.

Vancouver and Toronto continue to battle it out for highest rent in Canada. Vancouver currently sits in top spot, with an average one-bedroom going for $2,028 and a two-bedroom for $3,089.

Fort Nelson, B.C. was ranked the lowest of all cities included, with an average one-bedroom going for $596 and a two-bedroom for $715.