Rent crunch to worsen

YOKO

Sun, November 4, 2007

Rent crunch to worsen
; D) a0 r. [" @  Q' dVacancy rate forecasted to dip to under 1%

; x8 r7 k- N# I! kBy KEVIN CRUSH, SUN MEDIA
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: C% G, z" v5 KThink the rental market is tight now? Just wait until next year.

That's when the apartment vacancy rate in Edmonton is forecasted to dip below the current 1% - making it that much harder for already frustrated renters to find a place to live.

"It's just getting retarded," said Jasmine, who asked her last name not be printed.
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+ w, U5 V" K" L: _. X5 c, jSIX MONTHS LOOKING

Jasmine said she's already spent more than six months trying to find a decent place for her and her fiance to rent with no luck.

  
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- Z) B- U$ j+ ], ]& }  N+ H# O6 UFor now, the couple has been living with her brother and mother in a three-bedroom government-subsidized housing unit.

6 d/ O5 B: t- |! F5 }! vThey have been scouring the city for anything - but have found nothing in their price range, around $1,100.
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"I graduated from college, but I'm still working two to three jobs just to supplement the rent payments," she said.

( m/ {2 `; [0 WAccording to new numbers from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the apartment vacancy rate for Edmonton is a minuscule 1%.
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The rent crunch isn't expected to get any better with the agency pegging the rate next October at just 0.8%.

A limited supply of new rental buildings is keeping the market tight, according to the CMHC's outlook for Edmonton, released this week. Apartments being converted into condos is further keeping a stranglehold on renters.
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6 a" n; ]2 q& K, {Rates are staying high with the average rent for two-bedroom apartments at $950 a month, up from $877 a month in October 2006.
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3 K7 J  {6 ]" B6 v, ~"With the rental rates being so high, you can only do so much," said Jasmine.

Making it worse, she has pets, and few places accept animals.
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# d/ t" U" t0 \Meanwhile, house sellers are facing a crunch of their own.
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6 E4 ~0 O: |* u( r7 n* J0 q4 [With a growing inventory, high prices, and wary buyers, houses can be on the market for months. The CMHC predicts listing periods will get even longer in the new year.

6 @4 D3 C, n- h7 o1 Y"It's been slow," said Alana Schulte, whose Goldbar home has been up for sale since June.
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"Shoppers are shopping around a lot more now. They're taking their time. I have had one couple who have come in four times now, but they're not in any rush to make an offer."
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! Y+ a6 _  h8 Q4 U7 e9 G9 ], UOriginally listed at $450,000, in late August, she dropped her price to $400,000 to entice buyers. So far, there have been only lookers.
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; y# w. O5 N9 w5 G# Q4 ZSchulte bought the house for $165,000 less than five years ago.

5 ^* R: e9 ^! y( W1 q5 M, NHome prices skyrocketed because of investors buying up properties, said realtor Abe Hering.

INVESTORS A HUGE FACTOR
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' J- O0 Y; g* n"The investors were causing the market to spiral."
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Those investors have left the market, leaving mostly people looking for a home to live in.

Hering said there's just not enough of them to cause a real frenzy and they're often nervous about the high prices.

The Edmonton Real Estate Board recently reported the average single-family home in Edmonton sold for $399,555 in September, down 1% from the previous month.

水管工

现在是大家的日子都不好过:
有房的, 房子在贬值.
没房的, 房租在上涨.

YOKO

I wondered that how much the rental would be going up for just two bedroom apartment next year???

人生几何

原帖由 水管工 于 2007-11-5 09:42 发表
) U/ T- t- j1 _& Z+ Q; Z& I现在是大家的日子都不好过:
有房的, 房子在贬值.
没房的, 房租在上涨.

/ h/ j; w# m- L- y  G! D3 K" Z
) ^( E  F: j3 ~6 I待不住了，还有一个字“走”。

YOKO

Don't be sad!