At a glance
- As of March 2023, an unfurnished, one-bedroom unit in Calgary now rents for an average of $1,558 after a $21 average increase to the city’s rental rates.
- Edmonton’s city-wide rent prices have risen by $30 this March for an unfurnished, one-bedroom unit.
- Calgary City Centre had the most expensive one-, two-, and three-bedroom unfurnished units in the city this month.
Looking for our full March 2023 Calgary & Edmonton Rent Report? Download your copy here to get all the latest insights, including a detailed breakdown by neighbourhood.
This month, both Calgary and Edmonton saw slight increases in their average rental rates for unfurnished, one-bedroom units. Despite this, these two Alberta cities still cost significantly less to rent in than other Canadian cities we report on, such as Vancouver and Toronto. It will be interesting to see where Calgary and Edmonton‘s rent prices end up by year’s end as interest rates rise and demand for affordable rentals increases.
Founded in 2015, liv.rent is Canada’s safest rental platform and all-in-one landlord productivity tool. We publish monthly Rent Reports for Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal – and now Calgary and Edmonton as well. After receiving a number of requests, we’ve expanded our reports to Alberta – looking at data from our own liv.rent listings as well as from other popular listing sites in the area. For more information on how we gather data for our Rent Reports, please consult our Data collection methodology.
We’ll soon be releasing our 2023 Canada-wide Report with even more rental data and statistics. For access to this and other updates on the Alberta rental market, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter.
Let’s take a look now at the current rental costs and overarching trends in Calgary and Edmonton for March 2023. Don’t forget, you can download the entire report as a one-page infographic PDF below.
Note: Due to a calculation error, our February 2023 Calgary & Edmonton Rent Report has been revised. This error affected data for Northeast Edmonton, as well as our calculations for Edmonton’s city-wide rental rates. We apologize for any confusion.
Jump to the following Calgary & Edmonton Rent Report sections:
Average unfurnished vs. furnished rates
Download The Latest Calgary and Edmonton Rent Reports
For the complete Calgary and Edmonton rent reports, download here.
Average rent across Calgary
For the second month in a row, Calgary’s average rent prices for an unfurnished, one-bedroom unit have increased. Between February and March, the city’s rental rates rose by $21. As of March 2023, an unfurnished, one-bedroom unit now rents for an average of $1,558.
Average unfurnished vs. furnished rates
Unfurnished vs. furnished rates in Calgary
Prices for both furnished and unfurnished units in Calgary have continued increasing this March. Across the city, the average monthly rent for a furnished, one-bedroom unit is $1,829, while unfurnished, one-bedroom units now rent for an average of $1,558 per month – a +1.36% increase from February. This $271 difference in price means that landlords are able to earn a considerably higher profit by renting their units furnished, whereas renters will be able to save on rent by bringing their own furniture.
Average rent across Edmonton
Edmonton’s city-wide rent prices have risen by $30 this March for an unfurnished, one-bedroom unit. This brings the city’s rental rates back above $1,100 after a considerable dip in price between January and February.
Unfurnished vs. furnished rates in Edmonton
In Edmonton, average monthly rent prices fell for furnished, one-bedroom units, while unfurnished one-bedroom units increased in price on average. This February, furnished units in Edmonton rented for an average of $1,293 per month, while unfurnished, one-bedroom units rented for an average of $1,123. This $170 difference indicates that landlords who are able to rent their units furnished would benefit from doing so, particularly if they plan to rent their units on a short-term basis.
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Quadrant/Sector breakdown
To get a better sense of these cities’ average rental prices, let’s now break down both Calgary and Edmonton into their constituent quadrants/sectors. We’ll examine prices for one-, two-, and three-bedroom units, as well as divide each up into unfurnished and furnished for more accurate analysis.
Quadrant breakdown: Calgary
Unfurnished units
- City Centre had the most expensive one-, two-, and three-bedroom unfurnished units this month.
- Average rates for one-bedroom, unfurnished units rose in every neighbourhood but Southeast Calgary this month.
- Northeast Calgary had the least expensive one-, two-, and three-bedroom, unfurnished units for March 2023.
Furnished units
- For the fourth consecutive month, City Centre had the most expensive one-, two-, and three-bedroom, furnished units, on average.
- Northwest Calgary had the least expensive one-bedroom, furnished units this month.
- Northeast Calgary had the least expensive two- and three-bedroom furnished units this month.
Sector breakdown: Edmonton
Unfurnished units
- West Edmonton had the least expensive rent for one-bedroom, unfurnished units for the third straight month
- Southeast Edmonton had the most expensive one-bedroom, unfurnished units on average – but also had the cheapest two-bedroom, unfurnished units.
- Downtown had the most expensive three-bedroom, unfurnished units this month.
Furnished units
- Northeast Edmonton had the least expensive one-bedroom, furnished units this month.
- Southwest Edmonton had the most expensive one-bedroom, furnished units this March.
- West Edmonton had the most expensive three-bedroom, furnished units this month.
Downloadable resources
Make Zoom calls fun and informative when you use the latest rental averages and trends as your virtual background.
Free Virtual Backgrounds: Download Here
Download The Latest Calgary and Edmonton Rent Reports
For the complete Calgary and Edmonton rent reports, download here.
Rental resources for Alberta renters
You can read these comprehensive guides for more information on renting in Alberta and using liv.rent to streamline your rental process.
- FAQ: Landlord & tenant responsibilities in Alberta
- FAQ: Everything you need to know about rent deposits in Alberta
- The Complete User Guide To liv.rent For Landlords & Property Managers
- The Ultimate Renter’s Guide To Using liv.rent
Data collection methodology
Our monthly rent reports use data from our own liv.rent listings, as well as data our team manually collects from other popular listing sites – looking at available basement suites, apartments, condos, townhouses, semi-detached houses, and single-detached houses for each area.
When collecting this data, we do exclude luxury properties listed at over $5,000, as well as rooms for rent and shared accommodation. Investing in manual data collection means that we only consider the current month’s listing, since we can filter out duplicate listings and older ads that haven’t been removed.
Another key difference between our data collection methods and some government agencies like the CMHC is that we only include current asking rent prices. Many official reports will include data for entire buildings in their reports, which tends to skew numbers lower since many units are already occupied, and may be rent-controlled or rented for significantly lower than the current rates.
As we are a Canadian rental platform founded and based in Vancouver, we want to ensure that we’re providing a completely accurate depiction of the rental market in the cities we look at.
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Subscribe to receive these monthly updates on the Vancouver rental market. Discover last month’s Rent Reports below:
February 2023 Metro Vancouver Rent Report
February 2023 Toronto Rent Report
February 2023 Calgary & Edmonton Rent Report
February 2023 Montreal Rent Report
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