Rental vacancy rates at critically low levels in Greater Vancouver and Toronto Areas

A year ago, a Forbes article stated that San Francisco topped their list of the worst cities for renters. But, per our friends at All Points Relocation Service in Canada, Vancouver’s rental vacancy rate has taken the cake at 0.6%, making is the lowest in the world.

CMHC has not released its figures, so Toronto’s rate is not currently known (last year’s published rate was 1.6%), but it is expected to be nearly as low.

Given these numbers, what can mobility teams do to help families relocating to locations like Vancouver and Toronto - where the low rates of vacancy will provide extremely limited amount of options?

1) Provide quality support to employees for home finding where being an expert in the market will give them an advantage. 

2) Be prepared to make some exceptions for providing temporary living accommodations as it will likely take much longer than other markets for the employee/family to source and secure housing.

3) Prepare employees in advance of the situation and arm them with good information and advice related to being prepared to make a quick decision. Have them consider things that they are flexible on in their wish list and boil it down to a few must haves. 

Additionally, help them consider additional neighborhoods outside just the most popular.