The Wood Buffalo rental vacancy rates are up sharply, and this is caused by low oil prices, a weak labour market, and other economic factors. In April of 2014 Wood Buffalo had a rental vacancy rate of 7%, one year later in April of 2015 and this rate is a whopping 22.3%. These statistics were recently released after the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s rental market survey was performed. Braden Batch, a CMHC market analyst, blamed the labour market for the drastic increase in the rate in a single year. Batch explained that “The sources of demand in the rental market have certainly pulled back in the last survey period. I would largely attribute that to the labour market in Wood Buffalo being quite a bit weaker than what we saw in April last year.”

In addition to the rental vacancy rates in Wood Buffalo unemployment rates have also seen a spike over the last year, with the region seeing full time employment fall by 2% and the unemployment rate going from 4.2% in 2014 to 8.6% in 2015. Batch stated “Nobody’s surprised by saying anymore that the price of oil has declined considerably. Some people in that market are there solely for work … and if the work is dried up they may be leaving the town.” The Wood Buffalo rental costs can be high, with an average for all housing types at around $1,884. Bachelor suites can bring in an average of $1,326 each month, one bedroom units can cost around $1,574, and units with 3 bedrooms typically run around $2,295 each month.