SUDBURY -- The Canadian Mortgage Housing Corporation has released its annual rental market report and it looks as if numbers in Sudbury are relatively unchanged.
The overall vacancy rate stayed the same at 2.1 per cent, while the average rent went up by 5.6 per cent to $1,024. The Greater Sudbury Landlord Association says it’s not surprised by the numbers.
President Ray Goulet says “We at the GSLA have known over this past year that there has been a demand for apartments in Sudbury, " a low vacancy rate" as we call it.
Officials say these results may be due to several of the following:
- There are fewer Landlords going into the business not only in Sudbury but across the province.
- The cost of ownership leads to more rentals in demand.
- Landlords are faced with a great deal of damage in their units.
Vice-President Sherry Jordan says the numbers are also higher because more people are coming to the city and landlords are giving up on rental units because of issues with the Landlord Tenant Board.
“We’ve had an influx in population up here in Sudbury and so there are many students coming in and for different reasons these units fill up quickly and there’s just not as many to go around as we would need. And the protection for the landlords is just not there with unethical tenants. The Ontario laws seem to benefit the tenant more than the landlord and we feel that they should be acting more fairly,” says Jordan.
Jordan stressed that even though the average cost of rent has gone up in the city, Sudbury remains one of the most affordable places to live in the province.
