As 2009 comes to an end it’s a good idea to review the CMHC Rental Market Report to see what’s happened for the tail end of the year. Here are the highlights.

Vacancy Rate:

• In Ocober 2009 the vacancy rate for the Saint John Area rose to 3.6% from 3.1% last year.
• In Saint John City Proper, three of the four zones had a year over year increase. The uptown core remained the same at 3.3%, West Saint John up to 2.7, North Saint John up to 3.3% and East Saint John with the highest rate up to 6.3%. The outlying areas was up to 1.9%
• Although the vacancy rate rose this year, it’s the second lowest since 2000.
• National vacancy rate increased in October 2009 (Saint John 3.6, Edmonton 4.5, Toronto 3.1, Vancouver 2.1, Calgary 5.3)

Average Rent:

• The average rent was up by 4.2%, with the average rent at $613/month
• The average rent for the popular 2 bedroom apartments was up at 4.5% at $644/month

For full details download the pdf below, or visit www.cmhc.ca and subscribe.

Download (PDF, 2.14MB)

A Saint John Landlord was fined the minimum fine of $1000 after only 20 of his 50 work orders were completed after a second inspection 7 months after the city issued the work orders. The landlord now has until December 21 to complete the rest of his work orders.

Full Story @ CanadaEast.com

It’s important to take work orders by the city serious. If you keep up with your ongoing maintenance, then you wont be left with a large list of repairs to make at the last minute. Should the city issue you work orders on your property, be sure you promptly start the work and keep in touch with the city to make sure everyone is on the same page. Not everything can be done at once, but it’s important to have a reasonable time frame to complete the work.

Just want to give everyone a quick update on two of the up and coming projects slated for the Saint John Area.

Project Eider Rock

Irving Oil announced that they have halted plans to build a second Irving Oil Refinery here in Saint John. This decision was made based on an 18 month feasibility study that showed that the demand was to low to continue with the plans for the proposed refinery. Full details can be found in the article in the Telegraph Journal which can be found here. Although the proposed project was set to create thousands of jobs and spin off business, we feel that this isn’t a big hit to the investment or rental market here in Saint John.

LePreau 2

Plans to build a second Nuclear Reactor at the Point LePreau Nuclear Generating  station are still on track. For full details of the latest release, find the article from the Telegraph Journal here.

Saint John has been going through a growth stage, we’ve seen a great deal of development in the industrial, energy, retail and real estate, sectors as well as infrastructure in the city.

Be sure to keep an eye on our blog as well as the CanadaEast.com website for more news.

In our efforts to improve the quality of service we provide to our clients and tenants, we have hired a new office manager! This month we welcome Bethany Armstrong to the Harrity Real Estate Team.

Bethany will be taking care of many of the day to day operations at the office and on the road. She’s also available to answer any sales questions you have, so don’t hesitate to contact her.

Welcome aboard Bethany!

I’ve been thinking lately about how we can go about developing a better relationship with our tenants. It seems like most of the time when you call them or they call you – it’s because of a problem. I don’t want our company to be the one who only converse with their tenants when there is a problem or time to collect the rent.

My solution is a tenant appreciation program. With this program each month we will put all of our tenants in for a draw, and select a random name at the end of each month. Prizes will vary from movie gift certificates, gas cards,  to books on how to increase your savings and decrease your debt. Basically practical gifts that can help improve the quality of living for our tenants.

A part of this program is based on feedback from our tenants. Occasionally we will send out a online survey for them to complete for a chance to win.

Our goal is to develop the program with the feedback from the tenants and owners. If you have any suggestions for the program we look forward to your feedback – just post a comment below.

The new program will start on 1 May 2009. Tennats accounts must be in good standing to take part in the program. All of our tenants will automatically be enrolled in the program, but can opt out if they choose.

Luther Harrity