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Landlord Michael Stringer used to have potential tenants fighting over his southwest Calgary condo. He’d have to remove online ads within an hour of posting them, lest he be bombarded with emails.

But with vacancy rates rising and Alberta’s economy struggling, that’s no longer a problem. Stringer’s unit has been empty for nearly three months.

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“Maybe two or three people emailed me that they’re interested,” Stringer said.

“I just don’t think those renters are out there right now … this past year’s been a disaster for me compared to how it’s been.”

Calgary’s vacancy rate currently sits at 5.3 per cent, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.’s most recent report in November. That’s triple what it was the year before.

And with more rental properties on the market, many landlords are going to extreme measures to attract tenants by dropping prices and offering bonus incentives.

“The landlord’s got to do a little extra than they’ve had to do in the past couple of years to woo tenants,” said Mark Hawkins, owner of rental listing website RentFaster.ca.