These days, it’s no simple task to find a place to live if you rent in Winnipeg: a recent survey by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation shows that the city has a 0.8 per cent rental vacancy rate, which makes it the lowest of 34 metropolitan centres surveyed.
The CMHC’s findings come at the same time as Winnipeg’s ranking as “affordable” has changed to “moderately unaffordable” in the seventh annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey.
Now, a group of Winnipeg-area realtors is saying that this “acute” rental shortage may actually be driving real estate prices up.
“There are some areas of Winnipeg where there is virtually nothing to rent so invariably any house that becomes available for sale becomes the only choice for someone to bid on,” Mel Boisvert, chair of the WinnipegREALTORS task force, said in a recent release, “First-time buyers in particular are finding it difficult because the entry level market under $200,000 is shrinking noticeably due to escalating house prices.”
The paper, titled “Manitoba’s Rental Housing Shortage: A Discussion Paper Highlighting Challenges and Solution,” raises issues like rent regulation and examines the role each level of government can play in helping solve Manitoba’s rental shortage.
“There is no magic wand or quick fix,” said Boisvert, “Hopefully, some of the solutions we put forward in the discussion paper will be considered. Doing more of the same is not an option.”
The WinnipegREALTORS task force wants to bring housing stakeholders together to discuss how Manitoba can address the rental shortage. To view the entire discussion paper, click here.
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