The city plans to turn an old prison into social housing in the Downtown Eastside, but it should consider this edgy alternative first

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Find out what the average monthly rents are in Canada’s major cities according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.’s April 2011 Rental Market Survey.

OTTAWA — Demand is outstripping supply in the country’s apartment rental market, pushing the national vacancy rate lower and making it more difficult for renters to find accommodations, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported Thursday.

The vacancy rate fell to 2.5% in April from 2.9% a year earlier, the national housing agency said.

“Immigration continues to be a factor in supporting rental housing demand. Recent immigrants tend to rent first before becoming homeowners,” said Bob Dugan, CMHC’s chief economist.

“In addition, condominium completions moved lower in the past months, while rental apartment unit completions remained relatively stable. As a result, the overall demand for rental apartment units increased faster than supply for this type of housing. Accordingly, this pushed Canada’s vacancy rate downward.”

The average monthly rent in new and existing structures for a two-bedroom apartment edged up to $864 in April from $848 in April 2010.

The highest average rents were found in Vancouver, at $1,181; Toronto, at $1,124; Ottawa-Gatineau, at $1,056 for the Ontario portion; Calgary, at $1,040; Edmonton, at $1,029; and Victoria, at $1,024.

The lowest monthly rents were found in the Quebec centres of Saguenay, at $542; Trois-Rivieres, at $546; and Sherbrooke, at $577.

The major urban centres with the lowest vacancy rates were Winnipeg and Regina, at 0.7%; Quebec City, at one per cent; Toronto, at 1.6%; and Kingston, Ont., at 1.7%.

Those with the highest vacancy rates were Windsor, Ont., at 9.4%; Kelowna and Abbotsford in B.C., at 6.6 per cent; and Charlottetown at 4.9%.

Factoring out newly built structures, which carry higher rents and can skew the national average, rents across Canada’s 35 major centres rose 2.2% year over year.

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Photograph by: Bryan Schlosser, Leader-Post, Leader-Post

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The Ottawa-based group, which represents 100 boards across the country, said July sales plunged 6.8% on a seasonally adjusted basis from a month ago, a decline “almost entirely the result of fewer sales in British Columbia and Ontario.”

The slowdown had been expected as consumers rushed to buy homes ahead of the July 1 implementation in those provinces. The HST only applies to services used in purchasing and selling an existing home, such as real estate commission, and not the actual sale price.

In British Columbia sales dropped 14.1% from a month ago on a seasonally adjusted basis and Ontario the decline was 8%. The two provinces accounted for 85% of the the change in national activity.

“The soft sales figures we’re seeing right now can be attributed in part to accelerated home purchases earlier in the year,” said Georges Pahud, CREA president.

The group noted the drops in sales was smaller than in previous months with the Prairie provinces and Quebec staying even with June levels.

However, sales are showing they cannot keep pace with the blistering activity of the second half of 2009. Actual July sales dropped 30% from a year ago when activity set a record for the month. Still, for the first seven months of this year sales remain up 5.6% from a year ago. CREA warned activity will be off for the rest of of 2010 on a year-over-year basis.

“Activity may remain at lower levels for some time, but ultimately we expect a more stable market to emerge, with demand coming back into line with economic fundamentals, said Mr. Pahud. “While the outlook for economic and job growth remains generally positive nationally and in all provinces, the pace of the recovery will vary by region.”

The housing market continues to get a boost from supply dropping which is expected to keep prices stable. The seasonally adjusted number of new residential listings fell 7.2% in July from June — the third consecutive month-over-month decrease and the steepest drop in more than a decade.

But the impact on prices, which are the now relatively flat, was minimal. The average price of a homes sold in July was $330,351, just a 1% increase from a year. Again, CREA said the lack of activity in B.C. and Ontario, which included two of the country’s most expensive marketed, likely skewed average prices down.

On province-by-province basis, prices also dropped in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island but every other province had gains above the national average.

Overall inventory is climbing. The number of months of inventory, which represents the number of months it would take to sell current inventories at the current rate of sales activity, was seven month in July. A year ago the number was 4.4 months.

gmarr@nationalpost.com

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Since so many of us, including our local politicians and bureaucrats, are regularly occupied in the social media phenomenon called Facebook, an opportunity has arisen for the development of some new-era “spoof” communications.

Since the goal is for everyone to win by building a Connector for MurrayVille with the Evergreen Line, and since this game is in the design stage, your input is sought.

After 20 years of delays and excuses, citizens of the northeast sector could finally get to build their own virtual Connector themselves.

Status and progress bars will include:

Citizens input
Political will
Common sense
Leadership
Evergreen cooperation
Open minds
Provincial Capital
Federal Capital
TransLink Cash
Port Moody Cash
Private Cash
Hidden agenda’s
Nimby’s
Vancouver’s precedence
Excuses
Delays

To start building you must engage the community to find out what they envision.  It might take several attempts (and years) so don’t jump to conclusions or you might lose your job.  Also, beware of hidden agendas.

You only start to earn points though if you listen to citizens.

Changing parties, politicians and priorities, will all present challenges (excuses and delays)

There will be special maneuvers and political games to make this life-like; almost like a reality show.

In this game all ideas are welcome and will be considered. Thank you for your input.