Saskatoon’s apartment vacancy rate highest in Canada

Saskatoon continues to have the highest apartment vacancy rate in Canada after hitting a record high in 2016.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) reported Tuesday the vacancy rate for the primary rental market – apartments that are built to be rented, was 9.6 per cent in October 2017.

That is down from the record-high 10.3 per cent vacancy rate in October 2016.

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CMHC said a rise on rental demand due to employment growth and positive international migration contributed to the decline, despite 291 new units coming on the market since last year’s survey.

The high vacancy rate has had a downward pressure on rent.

The average monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment in both new and existing buildings was $1,082, down 1.3 per cent from the previous year.

There were also more empty condos waiting to be rented.

CMHC said the condo apartment rental vacancy rate rose to 6.4 per cent in October, up from 3.1 per cent the previous year.

Part of the increase is due to the number of units in the city, which rose 7.6 per cent to 11,773 units, with 25.3 per cent of those as rental units.

The average rent for a two-bedroom condo apartment was $1,263, down from $1,328 the previous year.