At 1%, apartment vacancy rate is Canada’s lowest
Linda Nguyen
Sun
Apartments are in short supply as demand rises. Photograph by : Ian Smith, Vancouver Sun
Finding an apartment in B.C. has just become tougher as rental vacancy rates declined for the fourth consecutive year, statistics released Thursday by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation say.
The rental survey saw a decline of apartment rental rates in B.C. drop to one per cent, the lowest rate in Canada.
“Increased job opportunities, the rising cost of homeownership, immigration and longer completion times on new multiple-unit projects intended for homeownership were responsible for boosting rental demand in British Columbia,” CMHC economist Carol Frketich said Thursday. “The West has definitely seen more migration from other parts of the country.”
Frketich noted the strong labour market in B.C. has lured many Canadians to make the move to the west coast. And the lack of new rental projects built in B.C. last year has forced renters to look at investor-owned condominiums instead.
The situation is even worse in attractive retirement areas such as Kelowna, B.C., where vacancy rates in 2007 have declined to zero per cent.
“We’re seeing changes in Canada‘s demographic makeup. With this new aging market, it’s made for very strong population growth in places like Kelowna and Nanaimo,” she said. Although new construction is still booming in these areas due to high demand, many of the new housing and condo projects are being marketed towards buyers instead of renters.
“Kelowna‘s housing market is going through lots of changes over the past few years,” she said. “The number of houses have doubled … many of them being investor properties.”
A similar phenomenon has also affected large cities such as Vancouver and Victoria where vacancy rates remain stagnant from October 2006, at 0.5 per cent and 0.7 per cent. The lack of rental units has increased rents across the province by 5.5 per cent. In Vancouver, it now costs an average of $1,084 a month for a two-bedroom apartment, Frketich said.
© The Vancouver Sun 2007
