Jane Armstrong
Vancouver — From Tuesday's Globe and Mail Published on Monday, Nov. 02, 2009 11:35PM EST Last updated on Thursday, Nov. 05, 2009 2:21AM EST
Most visitors looking for rental accommodation during the Winter Games want to stay downtown within walking distance of the main Olympic venues, property managers say.
In fact, the demand for Olympic rental accommodation outside Vancouver's dense downtown is so small that some property managers aren't accepting new offers to rent homes – unless it's within walking distance of downtown, said Blake MacKenzie, a sales manager with EMR Vacation Rentals, which lists and organizes vacation homes for travellers.
Right now, the overwhelming demand is for two- or three-bedroom downtown apartments and condos, Mr. MacKenzie said. Meanwhile, homes in choice neighbourhoods on the North Shore and west side aren't budging. The weak economy may have also dampened demand for bigger homes for large groups, Mr. MacKenzie said.
“People want to be close to where all the festivities are,” he said, adding: “We just don't have big groups of people wanting to rent a five- or six-bedroom mansion in West Vancouver, and have a few thousand a night to drop on it.”
Whether it's the recession or the desire to avoid the anticipated Olympic traffic gridlock, there is next to no demand for larger homes or rental properties outside the downtown peninsula, Mr. MacKenzie said. His company has so far rented about 300 units, most of which are downtown apartments.
Other property management companies have seen the same trend.
“People mostly want to stay around GM Place and BC Place, so Yaletown,” said Natalia Hramianitskaya, a property manager at Golden City Rentals. “Yaletown rentals are going faster than, say, West End or Coal Harbour, even though Coal Harbour is a super nice area. Still people want to stay in Yaletown.”
The demand for downtown accommodation has affected pricing, too. A two-bedroom downtown unit is priced at roughly $800 a night, while a two-bedroom unit on Vancouver's North Shore goes for about $500 a night.
Meanwhile, west side homeowners who want to list their homes have been put on a waiting list until the current inventory moves, Mr. MacKenzie said. “We're only taking properties that are in the downtown of Vancouver. We have quite a bit of inventory on the west side. So we want to move them before we take any more new ones.”
Demand is also strong for properties in Whistler, site of the downhill skiing events and bobsleigh events, Mr. MacKenzie said.
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