CALGARY - Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust, the country’s biggest landlord, believes the rental market should eventually benefit from recent changes to homebuying rules.

Ottawa’s move earlier this week to raise downpayments on investment properties should help ease the glut of condominiums on the market, said chief executive Sam Kolias.

“Over time this should reduce the amount speculative construction of condominiums and hopefully provide a more balanced marketplace,” he told a conference call with analysts to discuss the companies fourth-quarter results.

The trust posted a 5.2 per cent drop in funds from operations, in part due to the dilutive effect of holding higher levels of cash.

Funds from operations, a key measure of performance for real estate companies, slipped to $30.8 million, or 58 cents a unit, down from $32.5 million or 61 cents a unit during the same period a year ago.

The Calgary-based trust said rental revenue stayed level at $107 million, while net operating income rose 1.6 per cent to $67.2 million.

During the fourth quarter, average occupancy rose to 96.63 per cent, up from 95.32 per cent during the same quarter a year ago.

Average rental revenue per unit rose $3 to $981.

The company’s rental portfolio is concentrated in Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Quebec.

In December, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said Calgary rents have dropped for the first time in 15 years as the city’s vacancy rate nearly doubled over the past year.

But the city is still one of the most expensive rental markets in Canada, the figures also show, even as the vacancy rate climbed to the highest level since 1993.