Percentage of existing rentals available in Metro Vancouver sits at 0.8, says CMHC

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – There’s more evidence that the apartment hunt in Metro Vancouver is becoming increasingly difficult.

New numbers from the government group which monitors the housing market in Canada show the vacancy rate has slipped below one percent.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation has found the percentage of existing rentals available now sits at 0.8. These are preliminary numbers and CMHC will release a full report later.

Carol Frketich, CMHC’s regional economist for BC, says the problem appears to be that our region is just a very popular place to be.

“You’ve got strong employment growth or improving employment growth. Population flows: We’re seeing a stronger number of net interprovincial migrations, so more people are coming from other provinces than are leaving to go to other provinces. Those population factors could also be affecting demand for rental accommodation in BC.”

The reasons for why that is could be more obvious when the full report is released, but Frketich says it appears all the new buildings going up aren’t making enough space to make a difference.