Westlock’s apartment vacancy rates are among the lowest in the province, according to a study released by Alberta Municipal Affairs last month.
The Apartment Vacancy and Rental Cost Survey examined 65 communities with populations between 1,000 and 10,000, with at least 30 rental units available.
At the time of the survey, Westlock’s six bachelor units, 61 one-bedroom and 34 three-bedroom apartments were occupied. Just two of the 183 two-bedroom apartments in town were vacant, for an overall vacancy rate of 0.7 per cent.
That is likely to change this summer, however, as 30 more rental units are expected to come on to the market once work is completed on the apartment building at 97 Avenue and 108 Street in Whissellville.
Nick Spina, the owner of that development, said the demand for more rental units is very obvious to him.
“My building’s not finished, but I’ve got guys calling me just about every day trying to rent that thing,” he said. “I probably get three calls a week.”
He said he hopes to have the 30 suites in that unit completed and rented out starting June 1 or July 1. In addition, he said he’s nearly finished with the once-stalled condominium project on 102 St. near 106 Ave. behind the Servus Credit Union, although those units will be for purchase instead of rent.
The survey looked specifically at apartment-building rental units, and doesn’t account for house and/or basement suites that might be available to rent.
Town manager Dean Krause said while the town administration knows anecdotally that there are single-family residences that are being rented out, he couldn’t offer any specific numbers.
“We don’t count, but we become aware of a property that’s rented through utility billing, but it’s not collected for any statistical purposes,” he said.
From an economic development point of view, Krause said the low-vacancy situation is a double-edged sword.
Fewer rental properties might make it more difficult for people to move in to the community, but he noted that challenge will be mitigated once the Whissellville units are available.
A low vacancy rate also means the town itself is growing, which in turn will create more economic development opportunities for people looking to build rental units.
“There’s the potential,” he said. “As the demand gets out there you’ll see more people explore that; developers and so forth.”
While about a dozen other communities are showing lower vacancy rates — including tourist hot spots like Banff and Jasper — Westlock’s rate is well below the 3.4-per-cent average the survey shows.
As for Westlock’s neighbouring communities, the vacancy rates were 1.4 per cent in Barrhead, 3.1 per cent in Athabasca and 1.8 per cent in Slave Lake.
The survey also compared the average monthly rent by unit type: bachelor and one-bedroom suites in Westlock are on average more costly than in other communities, while two- and three-bedroom suites are slightly less costly.
For more information, the full survey can be found at http://municipalaffairs.gov.ab.ca/1740.cfm.
