- What Multifamily sales in Edmonton have spiked since last year
- Why Edmonton has an influx of people, driving up demand for housing
- What next 2025 will remain active, but likely not as busy as 2024
Multifamily property sales have picked up in Edmonton so much this year that some brokers are calling 2024 “the year of Edmonton.”
Bradyn Arth, senior vice president of investments with Marcus & Millichap’s IPA division, is among them. He said the momentum that picked up in Calgary during 2023 shifted to Edmonton late in the year.
According to the brokerage, sales volume is up 15% year over year, with more than $1bn of transactions between June 2023 and June 2024.
“Private investors moved in October, November of last year,” he said. “They sensed the beginning of a bit of a run.”
Family offices and other private investors led the initial charge, but now more institutional investors are getting involved, making it harder to find opportunities, Arth said.
Mark Basi, an associate on the investment sales team for Colliers in Edmonton, noted that many of the investors active in Edmonton aren’t local.
“Right now, what we’re seeing is out-of-town players coming in and buying a lot of product,” he said.
Citing data from The Network, Basi said there have been nine larger transactions worth at least $17m so far this year, totaling $91m.
Investors are being drawn by Edmonton’s strong fundamentals, driven by an influx of people seeking more affordable living situations compared with cities like Toronto or Vancouver. Even nearby Calgary is becoming more expensive, and those who can are choosing to move.
“I don’t think it’s an energy boom this time; it’s simply just a relocation within the province,” Arth said.
Some 100,000 people have moved into the city since 2022, driving rents up as much as 15%. The vacancy rate has fallen to below 3%, and according to Marcus & Millichap, that rate could keep trending down to as low as 2%.
What comes next, however, remains to be seen. Arth said the next year may not be as busy, particularly as construction activity slows due to a lack of land.
Correction (8/29/2024): Article revised to reflect that the large-deal data is from The Network.
