City warns of rental shortage
Several times this week I’ve seen this tweet from the city warning of a rental shortage and directing us to a page with resources for finding places to live. Passing it along.
Several times this week I’ve seen this tweet from the city warning of a rental shortage and directing us to a page with resources for finding places to live. Passing it along.
Ian 17:29 on 2019-03-17 Permalink
Kind of weird to be thinking of rental shortages this time of year – it’s not beginning of term, it’s not July 1… I wonder, what’s the catalyst to the concern here?
Kate 17:31 on 2019-03-17 Permalink
I figured it’s because tenants with the classic July 1 lease will receive rental increase notices by the end of March, so it’s coming up.
PO 19:06 on 2019-03-17 Permalink
I don’t think it means there will actually be a shortage of apartments for rent come July, just that there’ll be a shortage of listings as some places for July for some reason get posted further down the calendar. The panicked plan-ahead types will be disheartened that they may not find a place immediately, but I’m confident that places always pop up as May, April and June come along.
Tim 19:14 on 2019-03-17 Permalink
Are there any numbers from the city to back up this assertion? Otherwise, this is just fear mongering.
Kate 20:06 on 2019-03-17 Permalink
Tim, depending on neighbourhood, there are chronic reports of the loss of conventional rental space to Airbnb, for starters. Here’s a piece from the end of last year about the low vacancy rate.
Tim 20:25 on 2019-03-17 Permalink
I can’t argue with those numbers Kate (great job). A brief Google search shows that anything under a 4% vacancy rate indicates a tight rental market, so the 1.9% reported by CBC bears this out.
Ian 19:22 on 2019-03-18 Permalink
New concept: Guerilla renters. Locate illegal AirBnBs and refuse to vacate them after the rental period, offering a reasonable monthly residential rent instead.