By Spencer Sterritt

Nanaimo vacancy rates dwindle to buyer’s chagrin

Jan 30, 2017 | 8:44 AM

Nanaimo isn’t a renters market.

According to statistics gathered by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the vacancy rate for apartments dropped to 1.5 per cent in 2016, down from two per cent in 2015.

Janice Stromar, president of the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board, said this means home and apartment owners need to act quickly when searching for new places to live and will likely be disappointed.

“In this market, if you’re not there the first day it’s on the market and have all your ducks in a row to make an offer, you’re probably not getting that house,” she said.

The average price of a house in Nanaimo is currently $475,000, according to Stromar.

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She said multiple offers on homes have become the norm, which makes the buying process longer since more people are left still searching in what she called a “frustrating market” for buyers.

Even in December, which she said was traditionally a slower month, one of her properties for sale saw several offers after an open house on a snowy weekend.

Kim Smythe, CEO and President of the Nanaimo Chamber of Commerce, said Nanaimo has never been a great city for renters and he expressed skepticism the new multi-family rentals being built in Central Nanaimo will be enough to help everyone.

He said the biggest challenge Nanaimo faces is having space for professionals such as doctors and technicians with families coming to the city through the Nanaimo Division of Family Practice organization.

“The single biggest challenge they’ve expressed to us is finding suitable accommodations for short-to-medium rentals for the people they’re bringing to town,” he said. “They’d like to rent a house. Simply finding anything is a problem for them.”

Affordable housing is also a “dire” issue, according to Nanaimo Affordable Housing Society executive director Jim Spinelli.

He said they have a wait list of 4,000 single adults or people on permanent disability waiting for roughly 500 subsidized housing units.

At this point, he said many don’t even both applying because they know they won’t find a place.

“I’m very honest with them in terms of what the potential is,” he said. “I could build 20 more units of singles housing and fill them tomorrow.”

To find a place, Spinelli said they’ve seen more people left homeless, couch surfing or moving in with their families, which places stress on everyone.

“They can do it for short periods but not long periods,” he said.

Where does Nanaimo’s house market go from here?

Stromar said the B.C. Real Estate Association has predicted a slowdown in demand for 2017, meaning more houses will be available for buyers even though availability is still well below historical averages.

“It can only go up at the rate it’s been going up before it stops,” she said of the housing demand. “Eventually you will be successful.”

Spinelli said the Nanaimo Affordable Housing Society has received funding for up to 75 new units for the General George R. Pearkes Senior Citizens Housing site on Buttertubs Dr. and are anxiously waiting to learn if other projects they’re working on will be funded.

“How many more we might get in the future is very much political decision making that’s far above my realm of being able to predict,” he said. “We’d like to see some more housing for people at the bottom end of the spectrum because it’s not there for them.”

For the City, Smythe said he believes the eventual development of a long-in-the-works foot ferry from Nanaimo to Vancouver will bring even more residents to Nanaimo to encourage further housing development.

spencer.sterritt@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit