Derrick Penner
Sun
Expect the relative spike in apartment vacancies Metro Vancouver experienced in 2009 to be a short-lived, recession-driven phenomenon, according to apartment-market expert David Goodman.
Metro Vancouver saw overall vacancy climb to a 10-year high of 2.1 per cent in 2009, compared with 0.5 per cent in 2008, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reported in its winter vacancy report.
CMHC analyst Robyn Adamache said some seemingly contradictory factors combined to push the vacancy rate up. A rush of first-time homebuyers in recent years opened up a lot of rental units, but the recession crimped B.C.’s job market, which left a lot of would-be new renters still living with parents or doubling up with friends.
However, Goodman, a realtor specializing in apartment buildings with Macdonald Commercial Real Estate, said immigration was one factor that supported the rental market in 2009, and will continue to do so in 2010.
“I think immigration is going to be even better this year, and with the economy firming up, my prediction is that we will have a lower vacancy rate,” Goodman said in an interview.
Goodman added that the jump from 0.5 per cent to 2.1 per cent may look proportionally large, it doesn’t represent that big an increase in units available. The 0.5-per-cent vacancy level means only about 500 units are available at any one time across Metro Vancouver, and at 2.1 per cent, it is still only just about 2,200 units.
Adamache said the University of B.C. endowment lands remains one of the tightest rental markets with a 0.2-per-cent vacancy rate as of December, but downtown, the West End and Mount Pleasant-Renfrew Heights neighbourhoods also have vacancy rates below one per cent.
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