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In fact, apartments are being rented almost as soon as they hit the market, with each unit drawing several applications from prospective tenants, said Tony Irwin, president and chief executive of the Federation of Rental-Housing Providers of Ontario, an industry umbrella group.

“Anecdotally, within 24 to 48 hours, oftentimes units get rented,” he said. “Someone moves out at the end of one month and (the unit) is occupied again the first day of the following month; that does happen more, more and more.

“It’s pretty unusual now for a unit to be available for more than 30 days, and that’s changed from just even a few years ago.”

These conditions in turn leading to people, many of whom also have a hard time buying a home, staying in their rental units longer.

That boosts pressure on a rental market already facing a historically low vacancy rate of 1.8 per cent. Some observers believe a healthy vacancy rate hovers around the three or four per cent mark.

“People are not moving because they don’t have options to move like they might have had in the past,” Irwin said. “It all speaks to the fact that we need more supply of all housing types and certainly rental housing is a big part of the mix.”

And it could be some time before London renters see any relief, Danison said.

He said London’s relative affordability — the city still ranks 16th most affordable of 30 major Canadian rental markets for two-bedroom apartments — will continue to draw people to the city.

“When you live in a place like the GTA, you see prices there and you look at London, and you see the types of jobs and what they pay and what kind of city it is, it comes as a pretty desirable place to live,” Danison said.

jjuha@postmedia.com

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