Regina remains a renter’s market with vacancy rate at 5.5%

Regina’s rental vacancy rate is now sitting at 5.5 per cent, which is up just 0.1 per cent from this time last year when the vacancy rate was at 5.4 per cent.

A relatively weaker labour market and lower migration to the Regina area has moderated overall housing demand according the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s October 2016 rental market report.

The overall average rent has not changed in Regina over the past year and sits at $1,023. The average rent for a two-bedroom unit in Regina is $1,109.

READ MORE: Saskatoon leads country in apartment vacancy rate: CMHC

“The supply of rental units has increased faster than demand, which has kept the apartment vacancy rate elevated,” Goodson Mwale, a market analyst with the CMHC, said in a media release Monday.

Demand for rental units has continued to increase but the sharp contraction in employment among typical renters aged 15 to 24 this year has tempered rental demand. The report also added there has been continued movement by renters into homeownership due to low interest rates.

The demand for purpose-built rental accommodation’s increased between the two surveys. Rental supply has increased at a faster rate, keeping upward pressure on the vacancy rate according to the CMHC.

According to the report, the cheapest rent for a two bedroom apartment was in the city’s west end at $957 whereas the most expensive was in the northwest zone at $1,277.

The average apartment vacancy rate in Canada’s 34 largest municipalities sits at 3.4 per cent.

The highest rental housing vacancy rates in Canada, as of October 2016, are as follows:

• Saskatoon – 10.3 per cent
• St. John’s – 7.9 per cent
• Edmonton – 7.1 per cent
• Calgary – 7.0 per cent
• Saguenay – 7.0 per cent

The lowest rental housing vacancy rates in Canada are:

• Victoria – 0.5 per cent
• Abbotsford-Mission – 0.5 per cent
• Kelowna – 0.6 per cent
• Vancouver – 0.7 per cent