The average price for a vacant two-bedroom apartment in Nanaimo has jumped to just under $2,000 according to the latest rental market report by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
The price of a vacant two-bedroom apartment in the city went up by $115 last year jumping from $1,841 in October 2022 to $1,956 a year later.
Nanaimo City Councillor Hilary Eastmure is part of a growing number of voices who are calling on the provincial government to implement vacancy control, which would regulate the amount of rent that landlords can charge on vacant units.
“I would absolutely love to see vacancy control,” she said. “I think it is absurd that in between renters, landlords can jack up the rent as much as they want.”
Asked about the calls for vacancy control, the premier’s liaison for renters Spencer Chandra Herbert told reporters that the province is focused on increasing the supply of rental housing.
