Construction is underway on a 33-unit three-storey apartment building on Woodland Road, adding a range of housing options to a particularly tight rental market.
The Tricon Developments Inc. build, which was approved at the town's Municipal Planning Commission in November, will include handicap, one- and two-bedroom, and bachelor suite units.
“It will add to the availability of rental quarters,” said Dwight Asplind, project manager at Tricon Developments Inc. “It's geared to accommodating people that are in the oilpatch or in town temporarily.”
Just 28 (or 7.9 per cent) of 354 total rental units in Innisfail were vacant at the time of the Alberta Municipal Affairs 2011 Apartment Vacancy & Rental Cost Survey. In comparison, Olds had a 12.3 per cent vacancy rate and Penhold had a 20.5 per cent vacancy rate.
When zeroing in on one-bedroom units the difference is even starker. Just 4.9 per cent of units in Innisfail are unoccupied, while in Olds it's 18.2 per cent and in Penhold it's 18.8 per cent.
The survey found the average monthly rental price for a one-bedroom in Innisfail was $615, $640 in Olds and $679 in Penhold.
Asplind said the development is meant to provide affordable housing and may actually convince people to move to Innisfail.
“I think like anything along those lines it does attract more people to town which is good,” he said. “There's a tax base associated with that.”
Denise Lester, owner of Sundance Realty and Management Inc., said she essentially has no rental properties available, and when she does it's easy to find a tenant.
"Everything is filling up as soon as it comes up,” she said. “I think I've only had one unit vacant for more than a month, and houses are in high demand for rentals.”
A few years ago rental prices in town were quite high, she said.
“The rates dropped 10 to 15 per cent and now they're back up to where they were in the 2008-09 market,” she said. “We're getting a lot of people from out of province calling actually.
“We just have a low vacancy rate.”
