SASKATOON (Staff) – Despite a stronger farm economy, the flood of rural people moving into Saskat-chewan cities is continuing.
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reports rental vacancies in Saskatoon are less than one percent and in Regina about two percent, both far below what CMHC considers a balanced market.
That signifies a drastic decline from 1991 vacancy rates of 6.1 percent in Saskatoon and 5.6 percent in Regina.
However, the drop in vacancy rates is even greater in some smaller Saskatchewan cities.
Prince Albert has gone from 8.9 to 2.9 percent and Lloydminster has gone from a post-upgrader 1992 vacancy rate of 15.6 percent to 2.5 percent today.
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CMHC Saskatoon analyst Paul Caton said the drying up of vacant apartments is caused by “increased migration from rural Saskat-chewan and no apartment construction.”
While there have been two good harvests in a row and there is more money in farmers’ hands, farm and rural people continue to move into major centres.
Caton said young people move to the city to look for jobs and education, which explains some of the rural-to-urban exodus.
But another great migration is coming from retiring farmers, who move to cities to be closer to medical and other services. They sell their farms, which are often incorporated into existing farms and the rural population drops.
Caton said the vacancy situation for city people isn’t likely to soon change. Rents are below what most property developers consider sufficient to justify new construction, he said, and many are now extremely cautious after overbuilding in the 1980s and getting stuck with double-digit vacancy rates.
With property owners unhappy with rents and renters often unable to find apartments it may seem a lose-lose situation, but Caton said finding somewhere to live might be easier in rural areas where there has been a lot of people leaving.
