Waterloo Apartment Market
Waterloo is the northernmost city of the urban region known as the “Tri-Cities” which is comprised of Waterloo, Kitchener, and Cambridge. Waterloo has a total population of 97,475 people and offers 5,336 rental apartments in approximately 285 apartment buildings. This gives an apartment rate of 5.5 apartments per 100 people. Waterloo (like Cambridge) is a city of smaller apartment buildings with 224 buildings (or 79%) of the market under 20 units in size. The city has only 2 buildings over 200 units in size.
Vacancy Rates and Average Rents
Waterloo has an extremely low vacancy rate, reflecting the impact of the large student population. The overall vacancy rate for the city is 1.0%, one of the lowest in Ontario and significantly lower than both Kitchener and Cambridge. Average rents range from $650 for bachelor apartments to $937 for 2 bedroom apartment, an increase from 2008 to 2009, but surprisingly 3+ bedroom apartments dropped to an average rent of $1,077. These average rents are still the highest among the Tri-Cities and are slightly higher than average rents in Guelph.
For Investors
Because Waterloo contains two major universities (University of Waterloo and Wilfred Laurier University) the city has always had an active and dynamic rental apartment market with a lot of competition for apartments. The universities have been adding student residences, but this has not kept up with increase in enrolments to the conventional rental apartment market is still the major provider of housing to post-secondary students. Only two relatively new apartment buildings have entered the market but both of these are roughly a decade old. Investors will find numerous small rental apartment buildings and a good supply of mid-rise buildings, but investors seeking large high-rise buildings will have to check out Kitchener instead. Nonetheless, Waterloo has an extremely low vacancy rate, relatively high average rents, and a large supply of renters (i.e. students) making it an attractive market to investors.
