Murray Wood: Who's hot and who's not
Every Friday, Murray Wood takes a look at the week's news and decides who's hot and who's not. Today's list includes tho...
Regina’s rental market in 2019 featured more of the same.
According to numbers released Wednesday by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the apartment vacancy rate in Regina was 7.8 per cent in October of last year — down just 0.1 per cent from October of 2018.
The CMHC’s rental market survey showed there were 324 new apartments in the city year over year, but higher demand kept the occupancy rate virtually unchanged.
The vacancy rate was highest (at 11.8 per cent) in bachelor apartments and lowest (5.7 per cent) in apartments with three or more bedrooms.
Meanwhile, the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in the city in October was $1,128, a decrease of just $2 from the average rent in October of 2018.
That followed on the heels of a 0.5 per cent decline recorded in the 2018 survey. The CMHC says the average rents have dropped because, with more apartments available on the market, landlords have been forced to try to keep or attract tenants.
The highest average rents in the city were recorded in the northwest. Because the number of apartments in that area has tripled since 2010, rents for newer units are higher.
Overall, the average rent in the city in October was $1,035, down by 0.5 per cent from the same month in 2018.
There was a significant change in one of the survey’s statistics.
The vacancy rate in condominium apartments — those that are owned by an investor and then rented out — in the city fell to 5.7 per cent in October of 2019, down from 9.6 per cent one year earlier. The CMHC said that rate fell because “demand outpaced new additions to supply” in that market.
The average rent for a two-bedroom condo apartment rose from $1,397 in October 2018 to $1,411 in October 2019.
