By Emily Keller

higher rent

Rental vacancy rates rise in Grande Prairie in 2019

Jan 20, 2020 | 6:33 AM

Vacancy rates in 2019 went down in some major municipalities across the country, but not everywhere.

Heather Bowyer, a Senior Analyst for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, says Grande Prairie, saw a slightly higher rate from 3.6 in 2018, to 5.1 in 2019.

“So, a bit of an increase in the area for this year, but if we look back on previous years, they’re considerably lower than say, what we saw in 2015 an 2016, when vacancy rates were about 10.4 per cent and even as high as 19.8 in 2016.”

Bowyer adds that several factors contribute to the increased vacancy rate, including the dip in the economy that Grande Prairie saw last year.

“Strong demand is usually associated with strong economic conditions and for example in Grande Prairie, we did see a bit of a contraction in employment in 2019, so again, all contributing to that slow down in demand in the area.”

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As well, Grande Prairie’s average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in 2018 was $1,122 and rose to $1,186 in 2019. The cost of a one-bedroom rose from $943 in 2018 to $984 for 2019.

“When we see higher increases in rent, this could be a signal that we’re going to see a little bit of a pull-back in demand,” said Bowyer. “As the amount that it costs to rent increases, there’s going to be some people who will be pushed out of that market because of that.”

In Alberta, Edmonton has seen a decrease from 5.3 per cent in 2018 to 4.9 for 2019, and Calgary staying around the same for both years.