North Battleford rent increases defying provincial trends
North Battleford seems be the anomaly in the Saskatchewan renters market, according to recent data. While other communities have lowered rent when experiencing an increase in vacancy rates, North Battleford has increased rent while vacancy rates have climbed to an all time high.
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) released its annual Rental Market Report this week. It only includes apartments and townhouses in communities with populations of over 10,000. BattlefordsNOW requested the history of vacancy rates and rent increases since 2000.
This year, North Battleford is experiencing its highest vacancy rate recorded in the last 17 years at 12.4 per cent. It is higher than the province’s rate of 9.3 percent and even higher than Canada with the national average sitting at three per cent.
The lowest rate for the city was in 2007 at 0.6 per cent and ever since North Battleford has seen a steady increase in vacancy rates. While other landlords in communities like Estevan and Weyburn are lowering rent after reporting some of their highest vacancy rates of the last two decades, North Battleford’s rent prices continues to increase. In the same time period since 2007, average rent prices have increased by 76 per cent in North Battleford.