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He added that Vancouver’s sizeable inventory of privately owned condos do provide a considerable amount of rental homes, but it’s not enough. The region continues to have a rental vacancy rate of just one per cent.

Ferreira said the sources of demand for rental apartments are only going to evolve and grow.

“We have basically almost 100,000 study permit holders from around the world (in Metro Vancouver),” he said. “Not all of them rent traditional, typical rental product, but a good portion of them do.”

Ferreira also cited surveys by GWL Realty Advisors that polled local residents at least 55-years-old without school-aged kids at home. The survey asked them if they would consider renting a future down-sized home.

“They did the same survey back in 2011 and back then only 10 per cent said they would consider (a rental home),” he said. “This time around, when they did the study last year, 36 per cent said yes, they would consider renting, and another 23 per cent said they might consider renting.”

He said new employment in the region will also be a factor. There is currently about four million square feet of office space under construction in Vancouver’s downtown core. “Almost 60 per cent of which is already pre-leased,” he said, adding that 70 per cent of the tenants will be new entries to the market.

Those new workers are going to need homes and many will be in the rental market, he said.

Various government taxes and policies since 2016 have not resulted in the development of enough rentable homes, he said.