NANAIMO – A key component of evaluating Nanaimo and region’s current economic and business conditions and attracting new investments is the ability to provide timely and relevant information on the state of the economy.
To assist with that goal the Nanaimo Economic Development Corporation (NEDC) released August 13 its Second Quarterly Economic Update for 2015. The report examines statistical date covering the period of April to June of this year.
“Our Quarterly Economic Update reports provide Nanaimo’s business community with the most accurate and current information available. The quarterly reports capture information related to employment, real estate, construction activity, new business startups, tourism indicators and more. We are particularly encouraged by trends that we are seeing in tourism and real estate,” explained Sasha Angus, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NEDC.
In the past 12 months, residential real estate has picked up both in sales volumes and average price. CMHC (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation) forecasts a slight decline in new housing starts for 2015 (2.3 percent) compared to 2014, however in 2016 new housing construction is projected to increase by 7.7 percent over 2015 levels. Rental vacancy rates have decreased, while average rental rates have increased marginally.
In tourism, a marked increase has been recorded in occupancy rates, daily room rates and overall revenue per available room (RevPAR). Traffic through the Nanaimo Airport has seen an increase of 17 percent between the second quarter of 2014 and the same period of 2015. Year-to-date airport passenger volumes are 14 percent over 2014 levels. Finally, BC Ferries reported increases in both passenger and vehicle volumes on the two major Nanaimo region routes. For a more detailed examination of the state of the Nanaimo economy the full text of the report can be viewed online (www.InvestNanaimo.com).