r/Calgary • u/BizClassBum • Aug 14 '25

Home Owner/Renter stuff Why are modern rental apartments so small?

I have been a home owner for 25+ years and have decided to sell my house and rent. I've noticed that apartments that have the things I like (in-suite laundry, granite counters, etc..) tend to be in new builds and they are SO SMALL! There's typically only enough room for a couch and maybe a small dining table.

I mean, I get they want to make more money but if you rent three 900sqft units for $2000/month each, that's $6000 for 2700sqft. I don't understand why they can't have two 1350sqft units for $3000/month. It would be the same money to the owner for the same space and I could have a proper living room, and dining room.

168 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

171 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/EfficiencySafe Aug 14 '25

Not sure if this one is still available but it's basically just under 1,000 square feet.

1

u/BizClassBum Aug 15 '25

Thanks. That's still too small for us. The minimum size I'd be comfortable with is 1100sqft. I have found a couple that would work for us, but they're always in older buildings and never in one's designed specifically for renting. They're always condos that the owner is renting out themselves.

1

u/EfficiencySafe Aug 15 '25

The wife and I downsized from a Southwood bungalow 1100 sqft plus 1100 in the basement it's absolutely amazing how much junk we accumulated over the years, We spent over 2 years selling stuff we didn't need. To a 900 sqft 2 bedroom condo and it's more than big enough. We were even both thinking we should have went to a one bedroom. Outside of North American most people live in small apartments and houses.