Rental market remains tight

Canada’s overall rental vacancy rate declined for the second year in a row to reach 2.4%, down from 3% in 2017, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s (CMHC) Rental Market Survey released this week.

This decline brings the vacancy rate for apartments in the primary rental market below the average of the last 10 years (3%).

Nationally, demand for rental housing grew more than supply. The number of units occupied increased by 2.6%, while the survey universe increased by approximately 1.9%.

In Ontario, the vacancy rate remained near historical lows at 1.8%, compared to 1.6% in 2017.

Nationally, the average rent for two-bedroom apartments increased by 3.5% during the surveyed period from October 2017 to October 2018, which is higher than the inflation observed in Canada during the same period.

Large increases were observed in Ontario, including Peterborough (+7.6%), Oshawa (+6.1%), Ottawa (+5.8%), Barrie (+5.2%), Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo (+5.5%) and Toronto (+5.2%).

For all surveyed centres, the average monthly rent for two-bedroom apartments (new and existing buildings combined) was $1,025 in October 2018.

The highest average monthly rents for two-bedroom apartments (in CMAs) were recorded in Vancouver ($1,649), Toronto ($1,467) and Calgary ($1,272), and the lowest in Trois-Rivières ($601), Saguenay ($608) and Sherbrooke ($639).