Rental vacancy rate hits low
Apartment vacancy rates in Calgary have dropped to record lows and there’s little relief in sight, according to numbers released by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation yesterday.
With 0.5% of rentable apartments sitting vacant in the city during October, Calgary tied its previous record for lowest vacancy rate, in October 1997, said CMHC senior market analyst Lai Sing Louie.
Calgary’s scorching economy is behind the slim apartment pickings, she said.
“The substantial inflow of people to Calgary seeking job opportunities has elevated the demand for housing and many of these people have found their accommodation in the rental market,” said Louie.
And the dwindling demand is already having an effect on the amount prospective renters are paying for apartments, she said.
Compared to the $723 average renters paid for an apartment last October, an average apartment in the city this October cost $851.
“The increased operating and maintenance cost that landlords were absorbing in the past are to some extent being recouped this year,” she said.
Although Calgary’s apartment vacancy rate is the lowest in the country, with Vancouver second with 0.7% vacancy and Edmonton third with a 1.2% rate.
Torontonians pay more for an apartment than anyone else, according to the CMHC.
But the situation is not as dire as the numbers may indicate, said the Canadian Federation of Apartment Associations.
The vacancy rate in Calgary is low, but the availability of suites is actually healthy, said the CFAA, explaining because of turnover, there were 733 units for rent in the city this October, even though only 241 rental suites were actually vacant.