Vacancy Rate In P.G. Climbs

Thursday, December 17, 2009 04:00 AM

Prince George, B.C.- People looking for rental accommodation are finding more vacancies compared to last fall. Canada Mortgage and Housing's semi annual report on vacancies, shows the rate in Prince George climbed to 7.6% in October, compared to 3.9% for the same month a year ago.

Fort St John saw the largest increase with its vacancy rate more than doubling from 9.1% in October of last year, to 20.5% in October ’09.

Quesnel’s rate was unchanged at 8%, Kitimat saw a drop from 13.8% of last year to 10% in October 2009. Williams Lake jumped from 1.6% to 12.3%, Terrace moved from 3.6% to 9.3% and Dawson Creek saw a slight increase from 1.2% to 2.7%.

Provincially the rate increased to 2.8% up from the 1.0% recorded in October of 2008.

As for rent. In Prince George, the average rent decreased slightly for all apartment types except a two bedroom apartment where the average rent held steady at $692.00

Canada Mortgage and Housing says the increase in the vacancy rate in the province is the

result of a combination of factors in particular, people moving from rental to homeownership and a slowdown in the labour market combined to create a reduced demand for rental accommodation.

Low mortgage interest rates and lower home prices narrowed the gap between the cost of homeownership and the cost of renting. During the surge in re-sales in the third quarter,

first-time homebuyers were among those taking advantage of lower monthly mortgage payments and were leaving rental to get into ownership housing.

Employment in the province was below year ago levels. For younger people, rental accommodation tends to be their first housing choice after leaving home. Faced with a challenging job market, some renters may have moved in with friends or relatives, freeing up rental accommodation.

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Posted on Thursday, December 17, 2009 04:00 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: gus on December 17 2009 5:50 AM

Once more we have a statistic in isolation which really does not tell a full story.

This needs to be integrated with information about total housing vacancies.

Knowing how many empty houses there are that are for sale would help.

Of course, we also do not know how many people have moved out of rental accommodation and have moved in with someone else to share housing costs at a time when jobs have been lost.

In addition, of course, we need some inidcation of how many people left town.

On its own, the rental vacancies tell me squat.

Posted by: acrider54 on December 17 2009 6:32 AM

That's becasuse people are moving away from Pr Geo to Alberta for work IMO

Posted by: Municca on December 17 2009 8:40 AM

What I think is that PG has become too expensive! Slated at being one of the highest taxed cities in BC and one of the biggest spenders as well. City Hall and the Regional District have raised their taxes 3 years in a row. You already here them squawking about raising garbage, water and sewer this year as well. Our tax dollars are wasted on studies and things that would be nice to have instead of what we need. PG is one of the ugliest cities architecturally and it stinks. Now with all the mill closures and the recession people are moving. The powers that be need to take a good hard look at the needs of the people of this city. I hope the provincial government caps these municipalities from constantly raising property taxes. It is being discussed already. I just looked up our population and it looks to me that we are at 70,981 right now. If you look at the chart we have lost 4 thousand people since 2008.

http://www.bcstats.gov.bc.ca/data/dd/facsheet/cf163.pdf

I believe more will leave here in the next year as well. Let's face it ...jobs are now far and few between and what there is out there one person could not live on. When this recession started the municipality should not have raised their taxes or spent the money they did.

Posted by: commoner on December 17 2009 9:20 AM

Vacancy rates are good statistics. You just have to know how to read them.

Posted by: IMO on December 17 2009 10:53 AM

Can you please explain yourself Commoner because I do not see how losing 4000 people and higher vacancies are a good thing. To say that they are a good statistic and then insult claiming we do not know how to read them does not wash with me.

Posted by: meinbcbud on December 17 2009 2:04 PM

How about accessibility? How many of these open rental places can a person (of any age) who uses mobility equipment (walkers, wheelchairs and power mobility devices) live comfortably in? Barrier free in other words. We need some estimate of those places that will accommodate these devices.

Posted by: commoner on December 17 2009 3:53 PM

IMO: you misunderstood my post. Vacancy rates are good stats to use in general. Gus says, "On its own, the rental vacancies tell me squat."

I was merely saying, that in order for the stats to make sense, you have to know how to interpret them. As a tool, these particular stats say a lot about the rental market compared to one year ago. The reasons for the vacancy increase are varied. As gus pointed out, one reason might be people sharing accomodation. That could be due to cost of rent and/or economic times.

Knowing the total number of empty homes would not provide an adequate picture for the purpose of determining rental vacancy rates.

The stats might be saying, PG we are facing a population decline. Vacancy rates are pretty good indicators of the economic health of a community.

Posted by: supertech on December 18 2009 12:08 AM

Then we have to consider how many people are renting out a basement without claiming the revenue. That is a huge number of rentals that you can't count which makes the actual stated percentage useless. I know of at least a dozen myself.

Posted by: lmorge on December 18 2009 12:46 AM

Methinks Commoner is on track. Although the same situation played out from 1999-2004 during the softwood lumber crisis and the begginning of the pine beetle infestation. Pg's main economic driver will always be the forestry industry and with it's health being cyclical (having its ups and downs) the vacancy rate along with other indicators will be the barometer of PG's economic health.

Posted by: Harbinger on December 18 2009 10:02 PM

When they close another few schools due to a lack of enrollment, maybe the vacancy rate will rise again. Time will tell. Stick around.

Posted by: Eagleone on December 19 2009 6:57 AM

Between the various taxes (municipal, provincial, and federal) that I'll have due this year on top of the $600+ I pay every two weeks on my paycheck... I'll be looking at minimum $15,000 due this spring that I don't have. Its bloody ridiculous... the only service I use is the garbage pick up and the roads. I simply can't afford to work to pay that much tax. Its out of control and if I can get a decent price for my house in the spring I'm gone... I have bigger plans in life than paying taxes out my ears, so I can work more. Opportunities are created in places where the governments don't want to bleed you dry of every last cent they can get. We are no longer viewed as citizens, but rather as sources of more revenue.