Calgary's priciest rental properties still renting, but for a lot less

A monthly rent of $17,000 wouldn't fit most budgets, but the owner of a property management company that caters to high-end income earners saysit does for someand it's getting cheaper.

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Lisa Hamielec runs Citysearch rental network in Calgary andsays, although the market has changed, people are still looking for properties.

"The high-end rental market is still relatively active in terms of tenancies we are putting together for large homes and high-end condominiums," Hamielec said.

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"However rents have dropped over the past six to 12 months in the order of about 30 to 35 per cent."

She says some would-be buyers are renting right now to see where the market is headed, but taking longer to find their perfect home.

"The person that is looking to secure a rental property has more options. Rather than looking at three or four options, they might be looking at five or eight options, and rather than making a quick decision that day, they might make a decision over three or four days," Hamielec said.

David Bee leases properties with Citysearch andworks with a lot of corporate relocations.He says numbers are down.

"Anybody who's going to rent a place for eight, nine, $10,000 a month either runs a company or owns a pretty significant company, and there's less of those coming to town," Bee said.

When it comes to setting the rental price, according toHamielec, theproperty owner is always in the driver'sseat,but she has some advice.

"The message that we often send to our owners is that in today's market, an effective strategy is to mitigate and offset your expenses and ride out the market until we see happier days in Alberta."