Vacancy Rates
What is a Vacancy Rate? A vacancy rate is an indicator of the vacant properties in a specified area. It is a calculation of the total properties available verus the number of units available for rent. If there are 100 units for rent and one unit is vacant there is a one Percent vacancy rate. This is the standard way to indicate what the vacancy rate is in an area.
Another way to view the rate is how long it takes to fill the vacant property. There is a correlation to the number of months units are vacant to the standard vacancy rate calculation. Let’s explain how this works in Vancouver.
Vancouver has traditionally had a vacancy rate around 1%. What this means is for every 100 units for rent one of them is vacant. What many landlords miss in this calculation is that this is a monthly rate, meaning every month one unit will be vacant. Many landlords indicate they understand this but, when their unit is occupied they pay no attention to it. They don’t expect their unit to be the one that is vacant until it has happend. We prefer to explain the vacancy rate differently. We explain it based on how many months it will take to find a new tenant.
If the rate is one percent, then the correlation is it will take one month to replace the current tenant. In BC and especially in Vancouver when the rate is one percent landlords don’t experience a period of vacancy. The reason for this is in BC the tenancy laws require tenants to provide one month notice to vacate a property. With a one percent vacancy rate there is a high probability that the landlord is able to find a new tenant to move into the rental the following month after the tenant vacates the unit. If the rate exceeds one and is two percent then the landlord is more likely to have a month where there is one month with the unit vacant. That equals the one month of notice provided and one vacant month to equal a two percent vacancy rate.
With this correlation it is easier to see the current trends of what the current vacancy rate is. If you are trying to rent your property and it is vacant for three months after the tenant moves out, it is safe to assume the vacancy rate is four percent. We use this correlation because the CMHC vacancy rate numbers are often lagging behind the real time market conditions.
The most recent CMHC findings reported a 3.7 vacancy rate in December of 2025. We were already finding a rate above three months vacant in the summer of 2025. Later into the fall the vacancy month increased to 4-6 months and we expect the vacancy report will report a rate close to or higher than 5 percent in the next report. At the rate we are going now in the fall we anticipate the rate to exceed 6 percent. It will then begin to level off and retract as the amount of new products entering the market is slowing down which will reduce the number of units available in the market place. We are not anticipating a reduction in the rate until sometime in 2027 though thai may start in the fall of 2026.
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