Finding a place to rent in Centretown will become more difficult this year, as experts predict vacancy rates across the city will continue to decline.
Sandra Perez Torres, a senior market analyst for Eastern and Northern Ontario at the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., says the rate will likely hit 1.2 per cent this year.
Last year, she says, the lowest vacancy rates for Ottawa were in Westboro, Gloucester and Centretown.
“People like to be close to amenities, so the downtown area will continue to have one of the lowest vacancy rates,” says Perez Torres.
Perez Torres says one of the major factors influencing vacancy rates in Ottawa is migration. She says 20 per cent of the population is immigrants and the number of people migrating to Ottawa will continue to increase.
“This creates more demand for rental accommodation,” she says, adding newcomers to Ottawa usually rent for four to six years before buying a home.
Despite the demand, Perez Torres says she is not expecting rent to skyrocket.
A Centretown Citizens Ottawa Corp. newsletter for the month of February shows the demand for rental housing in Ottawa has increased the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment by 3.7 per cent.
The newsletter listed that in Centretown the average rent for a bachelor apartment is $742, a one-bedroom apartment is $967, a two-bedroom apartment is $1,288, and a three-bedroom is $1,508.
However, David Sugarman, a sales representative with Coldwell Banker Rhodes and Company, says rent will increase normally for the tenants who have signed a lease because of the Tenant Protection Act, which allows rent to increase only by certain percentages. This year, Sugarman says rent could increase by 0.7 per cent.
Sugarman described the declining vacancy rate as a mixed blessing – good for landlords and bad for those looking to find affordable rental housing.
Low vacancy rates are good for landlords, Sugarman says, because it means less turnover of tenants and a continuous flow of cash.
On the other hand, he says students will have a difficult time finding a place to rent in their price range in the downtown area.
Trudy Sutton, executive director of Housing Help, which helps people find affordable housing, says it is difficult for people with low to moderate incomes to find a home in their price range because of the low vacancy rate and the increase in rent.
“We do have rules that the landlord can raise the rent by a specified amount each year and that controls the rate for the sitting tenant. But if the unit turns over, the landlord can charge the new tenant anything they want,” Sutton says.
Kristy Cameron, 20, a student at Carleton University, is feeling the pressure of trying to find a vacant apartment in a low vacancy market.
Cameron began her quest in December, because her current lease expires at the end of April. She calls her experience “frustrating and disheartening.”
She says she is looking in Centretown because of the convenient location and the bus routes to school.
Cameron is continuing to look for places in Centretown, but due to price and availability, she says she’s starting to get worried she will have to settle for something less convenient.