Co-operative Housing Association
of Eastern Ontario

Co-ops and Housing Issues in the News!

The agonizing experience of trying to find new digs in Ottawa is starting to improve as demand for apartments eases.

“It’s getting a little easier to find an apartment,” said Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation Senior Market Analyst Alain Miguelez.

Minto Developments, the city’s largest landlord, has been slashing rent in some of its locations because the market has “softened considerably” in the past six months, said president Roger Greenberg.

He said his best guess is that the current vacancy rate is probably about 2% in Ottawa. That compares to 0.8% in 2001 and 0.2% in 2000. The vacancy rate reflects the number of empty apartments in every1,000 rental units.

Yet, Housing Help, a housing information and assistance agency, says many of the apartments becoming available are too expensive for most people.

“We haven’t seen a huge shift in people suddenly getting places,” executive director Trudy Sutton said yesterday. “It’s still tough.”

For the first time in recent memory, the vacancy rate in Ottawa is higher than in the Outaouais, which, at 0.6%, has the second-lowest rate in Canada, according to CMHC.

“There are a lot of tenants who have moved to Gatineau or to the Quebec side because of a big rent gap,” said Miguelez. For the price of a bachelor apartment in Ottawa, a three-bedroom pad can be had in Gatineau, he said.

CMHC believes rock-bottom mortgage rates have been drawing more tenants to buy homes in Ottawa, making more apartments available. Another factor is the loss of hi-tech jobs, resulting in some tenants leaving the city or turning to apartment-sharing.

Tight market

Ottawa had the country’s tightest rental market in 2000-2001. It lost that title last year to Victoria, which has a 0.5% vacancy rate. Ottawa still has the lowest rate in Ontario.

While rents increased last year by an average of 4.2%, that was much less than the 12% average increase in 2000. An average two-bedroom apartment cost $914 in 2001, compared to $877 in 2000. In 1990, it cost $640.

Hot ‘hoods in which to live remain Sandy Hill, the Byward Market and areas slightly west of downtown. CMHC believes the rental vacancy rates might improve with this year’s construction of three new rental buildings in the downtown area and another tow in Kanata, creating a total of 700 units.