Zak Vescera on Vancouver vs. Saskatoon
What a 6% vacancy rate looks like
After Zak Vescera moved from Vancouver to Saskatoon, he commented:
Apartment hunting in Vancouver: 20 people at the showing. There are no windows. Lease is 600 years. Price is your soul.
Apartment hunting in Saskatoon: Utilities you never knew existed are included in rent. Landlords call you drunk at night begging you to move in.
That's the difference between a 1.2% vacancy rate and a 5.7% vacancy rate (as of October 2019). In Saskatoon landlords are desperate to fill vacancies. In Vancouver renters are desperate to find a place, because we don't have enough housing.
(Before anyone says “of course everyone wants to live in Vancouver, the weather is great,” the weather in Toronto is terrible and Toronto has exactly the same problem with housing scarcity and unbearably high rents.)