P.A. had highest rental turnover rate in province: report
Prince Albert had the highest rate of rental turnovers in Saskatchewan over the past year, according to a recently-released report by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).
The report, which studied rental rates between October of 2016 and October of 2017, found 67.5 per cent of all private apartments in Prince Albert turned over during that period. The next-highest turnover rate was recorded in Swift Current, where 41.3 per cent of all apartments turned over. The average rate for all of the urban centres in the province was 37.5 per cent, and Yorkton saw the lowest turnover rate with just 32.2 per cent.
Despite the city’s high turnover rate, Prince Albert was found to have a below-average number of vacant apartments. The report found six per cent of private apartments in P.A. were empty, while the provincial vacancy rate was pegged at 9.3 per cent. Estevan had the highest rate of vacant apartments in Saskatchewan, with 25.3 per cent unoccupied.
Goodson Mwale, CMHC’s senior marketing analyst for Saskatchewan, told paNOW the region’s high unemployment rate could help explain the number of rental turnovers.