Regina Vacancy Rate Drops

You read that right. According to CMHC's October 2009 survey of the nation's rental market (released yesterday), the average vacancy rate in Regina is now a whopping 0.6 per cent.

0.6 per cent.

We are tied with Quebec City for the lowest vacancy rate in the country.

You will remember from our June coverage, CMHC reported that vacancies in Regina had reached 0.7 per cent in April, up from 0.5 per cent over October of 2008. CMHC predicted at the time that vacancy rates would continue to slowly climb.

They didn't.

You may also remember that back in the summer, developers who were hoping to speed along their condo conversions pointed to CMHC's somewhat rosy outlook for the rental market and argued that there is nothing more to worry about as the market is headed in the right direction.

It isn't.

We've been waiting on the provincial and the federal government for over a year now to do something about the appalling housing situation in this city. Well, the province's purse strings just cinched up tight. And housing is going to be the last thing on the minds of Harper's scandal plagued Conservatives.

It's looking like we're on our own here.

And 22 people were recently turfed from their homes in an office building and tasked with finding a place to live this winter. Expect to see more people living in hastily-converted and not-up-to-fire-code office buildings and other inappropriate structures. That's what happens when your vacancy rate essentially zero.

I'll write more on this when I've had time to go over the report in detail.