B.C. apartment vacancy rates and rents on increase

There has been a huge jump in vacancy rates in rental apartment buildings in British Columbia, but that hasn't translated into lower rents for tenants, according to new figures released Wednesday by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

Vacancy rates have nearly tripled across the province, the CMHC report states, although the report states that vacancy rates are still among the lowest in the country and below the national average. 

Despite the higher vacancy rates, rents are still rising - although not as quickly as last year. In Metro Vancouver, the vacancy rate shot from 0.5 per cent in October of last year, to more than two per cent this year.

Tom Durning, of the Tenants Resource Advisory Centre in Vancouver, said history shows rents won't stabilize until the vacancy rates get above three per cent, and that won't happen in Metro Vancouver until the supply of rental housing increases.

"Like Surrey still doesn't recognize basement suites. Neither does Burnaby or Delta. Carriage housing - you'd think it was the invention of sliced bread. These things are coming. We have to increase the density," Durning said.

"If we increase the supply, that should stabilize prices in the long run."

Kelowna bucks one trend

Even though the vacancy rate in Abbotsford is now above six per cent, rents still went up there last year.  

The exception is Kelowna where renters were dealing with the lowest vacancy rate in the province last year. The vacancy rate now is three per cent, and the average rent for a two bedroom apartment has dropped $70 to $900.

"There are several factors that will drive demand for rental housing in Vancouver," Robyn Adamache, senior market analyst with CMHC, said in a release.

"Job growth and a steady inflow of new residents to the region will support demand for rental housing in 2010. The gap between the monthly cost of home ownership and renting in the Lower Mainland will also keep some people in rental housing."