Pleasantvale Seniors Residences in Kelowna's North End.

(JOHN MCDONALD / iNFOnews.ca)

KELOWNA - While overall rental vacancy rates in cities like Kamloops and Kelowna are below two per cent, the picture is much brighter when it comes to housing for seniors.

Vacancy rates for seniors' housing in the Okanagan, Thompson and Shuswap regions is 6.4 per cent versus the 4.2 per cent average for the province, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s annual survey of private and not-for profit seniors' housing. 

In the survey, vacancy rates are broken down by regional district, but the Thomson-Nicola and Columbia-Shuswap are lumped into one classification called Thompson-Shuswap, which has the highest vacancy rate of 8.6 per cent.

The Central Okanagan has the toughest market at 4.6 per cent, but that’s well above Kelowna’s overall rental vacancy rate of 1.9 per cent. There are 2,603 available spaces in the Central Okanagan.

In between, are the North Okanagan at 6.2 per cent and the South Okanagan at 6.9 per cent.

The vacancy rate has increased over last year’s rate in all the regions.

In the Okanagan, Thompson and Shuswap there are 7,259 available spaces.

In terms of affordability — which is defined as under $1,900 per month in the report — the Okanagan, Thompson and Shuswap regions stack up well with 34.3 per cent under that amount, compared to a provincial average of 23.2 per cent. The region is also below the provincial average when it comes to the most expensive housing, with 43.3 per cent priced between $2,900 and $5,000, compared to a provincial average in that price range of 48.4 per cent.

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