Vacancy rates for rental apartments increased slightly in April, as new inventory hit the market and more renters bought homes.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said the average vacancy rate in the country's 35 major centres increased to 2.9 per cent from 2.7 per cent in April 2009. Rents edged 1.8 per cent higher.
“Rental construction and competition from the condominium market added upward pressure on vacancy rates and historically low mortgage rates attracted renter households towards homeownership over the last year,” said Bob Dugan, CMHC’s chief economist.
Rental units were hardest to find in Quebec City, with vacancy rates at 0.4 per cent, followed by Regina at 0.8 per cent.
The highest vacancy rates were in Windsor, at 12.4 per cent, followed by Peterborough and Abbotsford ant 6.6 per cent each.
The highest average monthly rents for two-bedroom apartments in both new and old buildings were in Vancouver ($1,150), Toronto ($1,134), Calgary ($1,082), and Ottawa ($1,061). These four centres had average rents at or above $1,000 per month, although Victoria and Edmonton were very close, at $999 and $994, respectively.
The lowest average monthly rents for two-bedroom apartments were in Saguenay ($522), Trois-Rivières ($531), and Sherbrooke ($556).
Year-over-year comparisons of rents can be misleading because rents in newly built structures tend to be higher than in existing buildings. To compensate, the 1.8 per cent price gain the agency cites excludes data from new buildings.
