Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last night I joined about 100 other people from Yellowknife, developers, financiers, politicians and officials with the Canada Mortgage and Housing presentation. I think this is the third or fourth on the Yellowknife housing outlook. I would like to compliment CMHC, Mr. Speaker, for taking the initiative to do this here in the Yellowknife market. They do a good job of analysis and the presentation.
It's a big subject, Mr. Speaker. It covers a lot of ground and, like a lot of things, there is some good news and some not so good news in the views that were given to us last night. The vacancy rates, as we know, are virtually nil. They are going to improve somewhat over this year and potentially next. Forecasts are that they will be in the 1.5 to four percent neighbourhood. That still doesn't translate into a lot of units, even at four percent. That's potentially about 40 apartments. So we are going in the right direction, but if the availability may improve, Mr. Speaker, it doesn't look like the affordability will. However, there are indications that the Yellowknife market is going to come off the double digits rates of increasing rates, but there will still be upward pressure. The time for investment in real estate is good across the country as investors flee the stock markets. So this is a good sign for this market.
On the not so good side are projections that inflation and mortgage rates are going to continue to rise, Mr. Speaker. Trades will be in short supply and building materials will increase in cost. The main barrier to affordable rental housing construction is going to be the availability of land, Mr. Speaker. Clearly all of us in government have a stake in resolving the main barrier to bringing more housing onto this market, Mr. Speaker. All levels of government have a responsibility to get involved and make a difference in this very dramatic shortage in our market. I would like to suggest, Mr. Speaker, that it doesn't stop with just this government. Mr. Speaker, I would like to request unanimous consent to conclude my statement.