Kelowna property manager<\/a> who’s surveyed about the vacancies at the properties she manages, and she said that the rate isn\u2019t as accurate as the city and CMHC want people to think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cThe vacancy rate is absolutely not even close to accurate,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
O\u2019Neill said omitting units that aren\u2019t purpose built rentals leaves a significant gap in the market. As well, the turnover for bigger buildings is lower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey don’t know the mom-and-pops. They don’t know what’s actually sitting vacant,\u201d she said. \u201cThey don\u2019t ask me about my single families or any of my other ones… they ask for the bigger buildings and the vacancy rates are significantly different.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
O\u2019Neill said that not every property manager, landlord or building superintendent is diligent about providing accurate counts of their vacancies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not every city conducts quarterly vacancy rate surveys, but Moore with the City of Kelowna said it\u2019s important to get a look at what\u2019s happening between the CMHC\u2019s surveys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe call it a snapshot because the scope and scale of the survey is not as comprehensive as CMHC’s. Right. But it gives us a pretty good sense of what’s going on in the rental market between those annual reports,\u201d Moore said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CMHC said in a written statement it does everything it can to get the most accurate picture of the rental market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTo ensure the highest quality possible, CMHC applies a complete and thorough statistical verification process that includes extensive data validation, consistency checks and review procedures before results are finalized,\u201d CMHC said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The provincial government relies on CMHC\u2019s vacancy rate for allowing cities to opt-out of short-term rental regulations, that\u2019s why Kelowna couldn\u2019t use its own data to persuade the province to lift the ban sooner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moore said there is a margin of error, like with any data collection, but it\u2019s accurate enough to direct policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe quarterly snapshots help us get a sense of what’s happening with the directionality of the vacancy rate. Is it trending up? Is it trending down over time?,” Moore said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I think we’ve really tried to make a more robust set of information available to inform decision-making both for the public but also for us.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While O\u2019Neill has doubts about the accuracy of vacancy rates, Moore said the current methods work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBroadly speaking it’s telling a pretty consistent story,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
“It doesn’t last for more than the moment that survey occurred.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":547,"featured_media":7796,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"guid":"","source":"","byline":"","published":"","updated":"","_infotelid":"","_prepressid":"","_multisite_post_sync":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1680,541,543],"tags":[],"region":[322,323,324,325],"class_list":["post-8273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-local","category-topnews","region-kamloops","region-kelowna","region-penticton","region-vernon"],"blocksy_meta":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/news\/8273\/why-kelownas-vacancy-rate-doesnt-necessarily-tell-the-whole-story\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Why Kelowna’s vacancy rate doesn’t necessarily tell the whole story","url":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/news\/8273\/why-kelownas-vacancy-rate-doesnt-necessarily-tell-the-whole-story\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/news\/8273\/why-kelownas-vacancy-rate-doesnt-necessarily-tell-the-whole-story\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/inhome-moving-move-PEXELS.webp?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/inhome-moving-move-PEXELS.webp"},"articleSection":"Featured","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jesse Tomas"}],"creator":["Jesse Tomas"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"iNhome","logo":""},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2026-05-11T01:00:00Z","datePublished":"2026-05-11T01:00:00Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T01:00:17Z"},"rendered":"