The lack of purpose built rental units still an issue for Vancouver
The spring Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation 2013 Rental Market statistics have been releases. There is not a huge change in the rental market for Vancouver, but vacancy rates are still at a critically low rate and rents are increasing faster than inflation. The report can be view at CMHC report
The over all vacancy rate is 2.9% for 2013 up marginally from 2012 which was 2.6%
In 2012 the vacancy rate for the different units were has following:
Bachelor 2.3% ,1 bedroom 2.6 %, 2 bedroom 2.9% and 3 bedroom 2.4%.
In 2013 the vacancy rate for the different units is as following:
Bachelor 2.2% (-.1), 1 bedroom 2.8% (+.2), 2 bedroom 3.8% (+.9) 3 bedroom 1.9 (-.5)
The Wellesley Institute states that “Housing experts say a 3% vacancy rate is the minimum for a healthy market.’ Wellesley Institute
On the price of rents also went up as well.
In 2012 the average rents for the different units in Vancouver were the following:
Bachelor $855, 1 bedroom $965, 2 bedroom $1,219, 3 bedroom $1,407.
In 2013 the average rents for the different units in Vancouver are the following:
Bachelor $ 891 (+$37=4.3%), 1bedroom $995 (+$30=3.1%), 2 bedroom 1,260 (+$41=3.3%), 3 bedroom $ 1,434 (+$27=1.9%)
In all unit types the rental increase was more than the Consumer Price Index (CPI)which is .4%.
So there is still a critically low vacancy rate and renters are paying more for rent.