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Yellowknife Vacancy Rate Cut in Half

Yellowknife Vacancy Rate Cut in Half

This morning the CMHC released its Spring 2015 Rental Market Statistics Report.  Amazingly, Yellowknife’s rental apartment and townhouse vacancy rate was slashed from 5.3% a year ago to 2.4% this spring.  And the reduction would have been even greater had an additional 52 units not been added to the inventory.

To get a sense of how surprising these numbers are one doesn’t has to look too far.  Just a week ago CMHC released its Northern Housing Outlook Report, in which it predicted a decrease in the vacancy rate in 2015 to 3.5%.

All of this is good news for investment property owners and bad news for renters.  But does it mean we’ll be making a return to our traditionally stingy vacancy rates?  There are currently more than 200 apartment condos under construction and/or pre-sales in our city, which could theoretically draw tenants out of 10% of the total rental universe.  We also have a couple of large rental apartment buildings sitting vacant while being renovated.  Granted, we did just lose one downtown apartment building to a fire over the weekend, but on the balance I would expect rental rates to relax between now and this time next year.

Vacancy Rates (%) in Privately Initiated Rental Row and Apartment Structures of Three Units and Over
Year Vacancy Rate (%) Total Units
1998 0.1
1999 0.1
2000 0
2001 0.1
2002 0.3
2003 1.8
2004 3.1
2005 3.4
2006 3.4
2007 – Spring 2.8      1,921
2007 – Fall 1.2      1,946
2008 – Spring 0.6      2,004
2008 – Fall 0.9      2,005
2009 – Spring 2.9      2,003
2009 – Fall 5.3      2,138
2010 – Spring 1.3      2,125
2010 – Fall 0.9      2,120
2011 – Spring 0.7      2,119
2011 – Fall 1.3      2,103
2012 – Spring 2.4      2,110
2012 – Fall 3.2      2,121
2013 – Spring 3.6      not available
2013 – Fall 3.6      2,080
2014 – Spring 5.3      1,928
2014 – Fall 4.8      1,943
2015 – Spring 2.4      1,980

 

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