Regina – If you’ve been looking for a place to call home in Regina, you may have quite a few options to choose from.
According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, Regina’s rental apartment vacancy rate was sitting at three per cent in October 2014, which jumped from 1.8 per cent in October of 2013.
The increase is being credited to the number of new construction projects, with around 370 apartment unit starts by August, in addition to around 700 last year.
Regina Mayor Michael Fougere said Thursday, the rate is a good indicator of the city’s continued growth.
“Our target was three per cent by 2017, so we’re well above schedule. We’re very happy about that,” he explained. “We’ve had a sustained population growth for the last seven or eight years, we’re seeing low interest rates of course, and the incentives the province and city has for the private sectors to build them are working. It’s clearly working well.”
A number of management companies are now being forced to offer incentives like additional features and lower deposits to get tenants to sign a lease.
David McIlveen is the community development director for Boardwalk Rental Communities and said the increased vacancy rate is unusual for Regina.
“It’s been probably two or three years since we’ve seen anything around three per cent in our buildings as an average.”
Ultimately supply is greater than demand which means it’s a renters market.
However, while tenants may have more options to choose from, they shouldn’t expect a lower rent.
The average rent for a two bedroom increased from $1,018 in 2013, to $1,055 in 2014, and is expected to jump another 30 dollars per month by next year.
The CEO of Namerind Housing Corporation is in the business of offering affordable housing options in the city and says the average rent is unsustainable for many residents.
“We have over 700 families on our waiting list,” he explained. “There’s places to live but there’s not places that are always affordable.”
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