Those looking for places to rent in Saskatchewan are having a tough time finding any as vacancies on rental properties have reached an all decade low. Since the COVID pandemic, the availability of places to rent continues to decline. CEO of the Saskatchewan Landlord Association, Cameron Choquette, explains the reasons why it seems harder and harder to find a place to rent.
“What we're seeing post-pandemic in 2023 and 2024 is consistent population growth that is outpacing the building of new rental units in the province. So, all that excess supply in rental units we've had for about 5 years is drying up. We're seeing those units be filled with newcomers to Saskatchewan from across the world and that's putting upward pressure on rent prices because there's less competition, less buildings for tenants to compete with.”
It’s not just the major cities that are experiencing this lack of availability and increased demand for rental properties. Smaller cities all over Saskatchewan including Weyburn and Estevan are having to accommodate an influx of new residents coming in looking for places to rent. Especially since many smaller cities are lower in price when renting a property.
“Rental rate affordability is a competitive advantage that the southeast may have over the big cities provided that there's good employment options for folks that want to move to Weyburn or Estevan. There still is some good availability in both Weyburn or Estevan whereas Regina has virtually no rental vacancies so there could be some population movements there.”
There is also the issue of building new properties for those looking to rent can access. The price to build a new house or apartment has skyrocketed since the pandemic, which makes it much harder for projects to get underway.
“Everything from wages to wood to the cost to service the debt due to high interest rates have all increased significantly. Projects are becoming harder and harder to make financially feasible. In order to make a project viable, there needs to be sufficient demand at a rental rate that makes a development pencil out on paper and be feasible so there is a lot of uncertainty in terms of interest rates and how much demand there is in smaller centers.”
Cameron believes the problem starts before shovels can even get in the ground, with zoning laws and regulations making it harder for building projects to even get started.
“We need to have municipalities review zoning bylaws, development fees and charges and permit timelines to make sure that if a rental housing provider and a builder want to build more rental units that it's easy, that it's efficient and that they aren’t buried in red tape and bureaucracy because we want to incentivize the development of more rental units so that we can keep a healthy vacancy rate so that we can continue to welcome people to Weyburn and Estevan, and that they can find a place to live and start a home.”