People have short memories. The CMHC recently announced that the vacancy rate of dwellings in the Metropolitan Region of Montréal (private buildings of three units or more), has experienced a fifth consecutive increase to reach 2.7 in 2006.
The cycles are also similar in real estate. The Montreal region experienced a vacancy rate of 5.9% in 1997 and decreased to 0.6% in 2001. This is the lowest rate ever, and the increase has been gradual since then and will probably exceed 3% during the coming months.
Several APQ members attended the last meeting of landlords held at the l'Auberge Universel in Montréal, where the guest speaker was CMHC Market Analyst Paul Cardinal.
At the provincial level, the rate found by the CMHC was 2.5% in 2006 or a little lower than the Region of Montréal. On the other hand, rates vary strongly in the major urban centres of Québec. Québec, Sherbrooke, and Trois-Rivières, have the lowest rates: 1.5 %, 1.2 % and 1.0%, respectively.
Gatineau beats the record with 4.2%, and the Saguenay area follows closely with 4.1%.
Elsewhere in Canada, the main urban centres show rates of 3.2 % (the highest) for Halifax, and Calgary has the lowest at 0.5%.
Our picture: Me Robert Soucy, Me Martin Messier, et Mr. Paul Cardinal.