Rental Vacancy Rates Decrease
December 14, 2011
 The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) recently released the Rental Market Survey for the country, highlighting a decrease in 35 major centres. The rental survey noted a slight decrease of vacancy rates from 2.6 per cent in October 2010, to 2.2 per cent in October 2011.
Mathieu Leberge, Deputy Chief Economist at CMHC’s Market Analysis Centre said of the survey, “Modestly higher levels of employment among persons aged 15 to 24 likely increased household formation among young adults, thereby increasing rental housing demand. This, combined with the supply of newly constructed rental apartments moving slightly lower, pushed Canada’s vacancy rate downward.” He went on to note, “Demand for rental condominium apartments remained strong, with the vacancy rate for such units falling in most of Canada’s largest urban centres, including Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.”
The survey indicates that in October 2011, the major centres with the lowest vacancy rates were: Regina (0.6 per cent), Winnipeg, Kingston and Guelph (1.1 per cent), and St. John’s (0.6 per cent). On a provincial level, Manotiba posted the lowest vacancy rate at 1.0 per cent. Newfoundland and Labrador (1.3 per cent) and Saskatchewan (1.9 per cent) were the other provinces with vacancy rates below the 2.0 per cent mark.
The major centres with the highest vacancy rates were: Windsor (8.1 per cent), Abbotsford (6.7 per cent) and Saint John (5.9 per cent). The highest vacancy rate on a provincial level was New Brunswick (4.8 per cent).
The average two-bedroom rent in new and existing structures in the country was $883 in October of this year, compared with $860 in October of 2010. The highest monthly rents for two-bedroom apartments in new and existing structures in Canada’s major centres were: Vancouver ($1,237), Toronto ($1,149), Ottawa ($1,086), Victoria ($1,045), Edmonton ($1,034) and Barrie ($1,001). On a provincial level, the highest average monthly rents were found in British Columbia ($1,050), Alberta ($1,044) and Ontario ($1,002).
Trois-Rivieres ($547), Saguenay ($557) and Sherbrooke ($577) had the lowest average monthly rents for two-bedroom apartments in the country. Provincially, the lowest monthly rents were: Quebec ($684), New Brunswick ($687) and Newfoundland and Labrador ($701).
CMHC’s fall Rental Market Survey found that the rental apartment availability rate in Canada’s 35 major centres was 3.2 per cent in October 2011, which is down from 3.8 per cent in the same month of 2010. CMHC notes that a rental unit is considered available if the unit is vacant (physically unoccupied and ready for rental), or if the existing tenant has given or received notice to move and a new tenant has not signed a lease. Availability rates were highest in Windsor (9.2 per cent), Abbotsford (7.5 per cent), Saint John (6.7 per cent) and Hamilton (6.2 per cent). The lowest rates were in Regina (0.9 per cent), Winnipeg (1.6 per cent) and Saguenay (1.7 per cent).
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