Apartment Vacancy & Rental Cost Survey
- The community has a population of between 1,000 and 9,999 people,
- The community has 30 or more private market rental units, and
- The community is not included in the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s (CMHC) biannual Rental Market Survey.
The survey does not include communities in urban areas with a population of 10,000 or more people, as these centres are surveyed biannually by CMHC in April and October.
Note: Private market rental units are units that are rented at market rates and are not subsidized. This term has been shortened to rental unit for the remainder of this document.
Since 1973, with the exception of 2004, the Province of Alberta has conducted an annual AVS of multi-family dwellings in Alberta’s rural communities. Each year the number of communities surveyed may differ due to changes in population or the number of rental units in the community.
In 2011, MA included two new communities in the AVS, Bow Island and Eckville, for a total of 64 communities surveyed. The communities surveyed during the months of May, June, and July 2011, inclusive, were:
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Athabasca |
Drumheller Eckville Edson Elk Point Fairview Falher Fort Macleod Fox Creek Grande Cache Grimshaw Hanna High Level High Prairie Hinton Innisfail Jasper Lac La Biche |
Mayerthorpe McLennan Nanton Olds Peace River Penhold Pincher Creek Ponoka Provost Raymond Rimbey Rocky Mtn. House Sexsmith Slave Lake Smoky Lake Spirit River |
St. Paul Stettler Sundre Swan Hills Taber Tofield Two Hills Valleyview Vegreville Vermilion Vulcan Wainwright Westlock Whitecourt |
Purpose
The Apartment Vacancy and Rental Cost Survey (AVS) provides the housing industry, private sector, and various government Ministries with housing information on vacancy and rental rates for multi-family rental dwellings in Alberta’s rural communities with populations between 1,000 and 9,999 people.
Methodology
The survey includes non-subsidized rental buildings containing 4 or more rental units, such as walk-up and high-rise apartment buildings, four-plexes, row/townhouses, and other multiplex rental stock. In addition, store-top rental units were included in 25 communities, as they represent a significant portion of the total rental stock in these communities.
In order for a rental unit to be included in the survey, it must be occupied or vacant. If vacant, the rental unit must be available for rent at market value. In buildings that include both subsidized and non-subsidized or affordable housing rental units, only non-subsidized units and units rented at market rates were included in the survey.
The survey does not include rented single-detached, duplex, and semi-detached houses; investorowned rental condominium units; or secondary-units such as basement suites, attic apartments, and garage suites. In the buildings surveyed, 103 owner-occupied units, caretaker units rented at a discount, and 139 units undergoing renovations were not included.
The survey was conducted between the months of May and August through a combination of fax or e-mail responses and telephone and face-to-face interviews with apartment owners, managers, building superintendents, and property management agencies, reflecting market conditions at the time of the survey. The survey identifies building type, building age, unit type, number of units, rental rates, and the number of vacancies. All survey data records are subjected to computer validity checks and are adjusted for non-responses to ensure the data is an accurate representation of the communities surveyed.
Slave Lake Disaster
On May 15, 2011, the Town of Slave Lake was devastated by wildfires, which resulted in major property losses. As a result of this natural disaster, 156 rental units were burned down or damaged, reducing the number of rental units from 386 to 230 in the community. This represents a 40.4 per cent loss in the rental stock.
- The 230 remaining rental units were successfully included in June and July as part of the 2011 Apartment Vacancy and Rental Cost Survey (AVS), with the exception of 3 units undergoing renovations, and zero (0) vacancies were recorded.
- These units were included in the AVS using the same methodology as the other towns included in the survey.
- According to 2010 AVS results, there were 386 rental units identified in Slave Lake. Of these, 379 were included in the AVS with 40 recorded vacancies.
The following tables have been extracted from the Apartment Vacancy and Rental Cost Survey Report 2011:
Number of Rental Units Identified and Survey Response Rates - Weighted Average Rent and Rental Range by Type of Unit
- Number of Vacancies and Vacancy Rates by Type of Unit
- Weighted Rents by Bedroom Type and Overall Vacancy Rates by Community
- Apartment Vacancy and Rental Cost Survey Report 2011 Highlights
Contact Information
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Municipal Affairs |
Dial 310-0000 followed by th earea code and the telephone number to be connected toll-free in Alberta. |
Copies of the Apartment Vacancy and Rental Cost Survey 2010 Report can be ordered from the Queen’s Printer Bookstore in person; by telephone, fax, and e-mail; or through the Internet.
| Queen’s Printer Bookstore Park Plaza Building 5th Floor, 10611-98 Avenue Edmonton, AB T5K2P7 |
Telephone: 780-427-4952 Fax: 780-452-0668 E-mail: qp@gov.ab.ca Internet: http://www.qp.alberta.ca/ |
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation conducts a semi-annual survey of apartment vacancies and rental costs in communities who have population over 10,000. For more information please contact:
Edmonton
Richard Goatcher at rgoatche@cmhc-schl.gc.ca
Calgary
Richard Corriveau at rcorrive@cmhc-schl.gc.ca
