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Renters get a foot in the door

Provincial vacancy rate rises slightly

By: Murray McNeill

Posted: 06/13/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

A surge in defections to other provinces, coupled with a yearning for home ownership, has provided a little relief for beleaguered Manitoba renters.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.'s spring survey shows Manitoba's overall apartment vacancy rate edged up to 1.2 per cent in April from 0.7 per cent in April of last year and 1.0 per cent in October.

And it was a similar story with the overall vacancy rate for the Winnipeg Census Metropolitan Area, which crept up to 1.2 per cent from 0.7 per cent a year earlier and 1.1 per cent in October.

"The increased outflow of Manitobans to other provinces and tenants making the move to home ownership contributed to the increase in vacancies," said Dianne Himbeault, CMHC's senior market analyst for Manitoba.

But despite the modest improvement, Himbeault said Manitoba renters are still grappling with the lowest provincial apartment vacancy rate in the country.

The province's chief statistician confirmed Tuesday Manitoba saw a jump in net out-migration to other provinces last year -- 4,356 people versus 2,510 in 2010. Wilf Falk said the increase reversed a trend that saw net outflows decline in four of the five years prior to 2011. The lone exception was 2008, when there was a slight increase.

Falk said last year's net loss still paled in comparison to the losses posted in 2005 and 2006 of 8,602 and 7,277 respectively.

Like every other province and territory, he said Manitoba lost residents last year to booming Alberta -- 1,866 in total. Another 1,484 moved to B.C., and 622 to Ontario. But on the bright side, he said Manitoba has also been welcoming thousands of new immigrants each year. He said Statistics Canada will be releasing the population gains for the first quarter of this year on June 21.

The CMHC report said Portage la Prairie had the lowest overall vacancy rate among the four other urban centres surveyed, at 0.5 per cent. That was followed by Brandon at 0.7 per cent, Thompson at 1.1 per cent and Steinbach at 4.6 per cent.

Steinbach's rate was up nearly four percentage points from a year earlier due to 40 new units being added in 2011.

The agency also said the average increase in monthly rental rates over the past year was also well above the provincial rent-control guideline, which is one per cent for 2012. Many units are exempt from the guideline, including ones that have been substantially renovated.

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca

Home suite home

Overall apartment vacancy rates for Manitoba urban centres with populations of 10,000 or more:

CityApril 2011April 2012 centrevacancy rate vacancy rate

Winnipeg CMA*0.7 %1.2%

Brandon 1.3%0.7 %

Portage la Prairie2.5 %0.5%

Steinbach0.8%4.6%

Thompson0.5%1.1%

Manitoba0.7%1.2%

Average monthly rental rates in April 2012:

CityOne TwoThree centrebedroom bedroombedroom

Winnipeg CMA$697 $901$1,114

Brandon$566 $734$921

Portage $519 $659$659

Steinbach$551 $710N/A*

Thompson$699 $771$742

Manitoba$690 $876$1,078

* Census Metropolitan Area * Not available

-- source: CMHC

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 13, 2012 B3

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