http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=348c49c4-c194-4d3a-9446-5564332a1ea9&k=96391Calgary rental vacancy rate on the rise: Apartment Association
Mario Toneguzzi , Calgary Herald
Published: Tuesday, February 19, 2008
CALGARY - There is a softening of demand for apartment rental units in Calgary, says the Calgary Apartment Association.
As of the end of January, vacancy rates industry-wide reached the three to four per cent level for the 50,000 apartment rental units within the city.
The vacancy rate bottomed out at a historic low of 0.5 per cent in 2006.
A number of factors have contributed to the rise in the vacancy rate, said Gerry Baxter, executive director of the Calgary Apartment Association.
"We have always said the market is the market and the market always has a way of correcting itself in time," he said. "One of the very large reasons for improved vacancy rates is the number of condos now part of the rental market. We are advised that up to 40 per cent of new condo construction is available for rental."It sounds to me like people are dumping their condos into the rental market. If nothing else it seems the market must be overbuilt. Canada has seen several years of insane home-price appreciation, and like the US, has not had significant increases in median household income to support those increases. Canadians tell me that there are no subprime loans in Canada, so a housing bust is unthinkable there.
Hmmm... I wonder.