Windsor's Vacancy Rate Almost 15% Highest In Country!

http://www.windsorstar.com/Windsor+vacancy+rate+times+national+average/1062067/story.html

Dave Hall - December 11, 2008

A glut of affordable housing on the market across the Windsor census metropolitan area has pushed the city's apartment vacancy rate to 14.6 per cent, which is more than six times the national average.

A report issued by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation also blames the city's high vacancy rate on "migration by job seekers to other communities, low employment among youth and a buyers' resale market," said Margot Stevenson, an analyst with CMHC.

Stevenson added that "little change in these factors will result in an increasing vacancy rate in 2009."
Windsor's rate increased by almost two points from a year ago when it reached 12.6 which was also the highest in Canada at the time.

The next highest vacancy rates across Canada can be found in St. Catharines at 4.3 per cent and Oshawa at 4.2, two other automotive cities hard hit by the downturn in the manufacturing sector.

Elsewhere across Canada, the rates range from 0.3 in Kelowna to 3.9 in London.

Canada's rate is 2.2, which is down marginally from last year when it reached 2.6.

On the plus side for renter's, the amount of choice on the market has left Windsor's average rental rate of $772 for a two-bedroom apartment among the lowest in Ontario.

Across the province, the only cities with lower two-bedroom rents are Brantford at $752 and Thunder Bay at $719.

The lowest recorded rent among the cities surveyed by the CMHC was found in Trois-Rivieres where two-bedroom apartments can be rented for as little as $505.

The highest rents, not surprisingly, were found in Vancouver at $1,124.

The average across Canada is $828.

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