Canmore renters are paying roughly nine per cent more for housing than they were this time last year, while Banff tenants have seen a 3.5 per cent rent increase on average.
That’s according to the Bow Valley Job Resource Centre’s spring labour market review, released Friday (March 16), which shows average rental rates for a one-bedroom were $1,505 in Banff and $1,453 in Canmore.
“The rental rates are going up – and going up a lot, in Canmore especially,” said Michel Dufresne, director of the Job Resource Centre.
The spring labour market review looked at about 790 housing listings in local print and online media between August 2017 and January 2018.
Average rental rates for a two-bedroom and three-bedroom were $1,852 and $2,375 respectively in Banff and $1,924 and $2,327 in Canmore. Average rental rates for a roommate were $830 in Banff and $823 in Canmore.
Rental rates in Banff for shared housing, which accounted for 75 per cent of all listings, was up three per cent. In Canmore, shared housing and two-bedroom units rents, jumped 10 per cent and 11 per cent respectively.
Dufresne said the increases are concerning.
“It’s not good because if it’s harder to find reasonable, affordable accommodation, then it’s less and less attractive to come and work here and start up in an entry-level position or moving your family,” he said.
“On the other side, you’re going to have people doing the opposite, which is to leave the valley. It may be tight and people may make do, but at some point something like this may force people to leave.”
The Job Resource Centre received 1,389 job orders, for a total of 2,989 positions, from 344 Bow Valley employers between August 2017 and January 2018.
Job orders increased by 13 per cent compared to last year, while the number of employers using the service to advertise jobs rose by 20 per cent.
Dufresne said 44 per cent of all jobs posted at the Job Resource Centre were advertised with staff housing, close to the same as one year earlier.
“More jobs in Banff came with staff housing than in Canmore,” he said, noting 51 per cent of jobs in Banff came with staff housing compared to 29 per cent in Canmore.
“I think Banff is a bit better equipped than Canmore in terms of staff housing. Canmore might want to pay attention to that down the road. It should be the opposite. Canmore should be the bedroom community and it’s not.”
According to the Job Resource Centre, the average starting wage in the Bow Valley was $17.15 per hour, an eight per cent increase over last year’s average of $15.83.
This increase reflects, in part, the 11.4 per cent increase in the minimum wage that took effect in October last year.
