Canada's Purpose-Built Rental Vacancy Rate Increases

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Nov. 28, 2016) - In the privately initiated purpose-built rental market, the average apartment vacancy rate in Canada's 34 larger centres increased slightly, to 3.4 per cent in October 2016, from 3.3 per cent in October 2015, according to the fall Rental Market Survey released today by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

Tailor made reports are available for Canada, the provinces, Yellowknife and major centres.

The Rental Market Survey provides data and analysis for both the primary or purpose built rental market and the secondary rental market covering condominium apartments.

Report Highlights

• Saskatoon (10.3%), St-John's (7.9%), Edmonton (7.1%), Calgary (7.0%) and Saguenay (7.0%) are the major Canadian centres with the highest purpose built rental housing vacancy rates.
• Victoria and Abbotsford-Mission (0.5%), Kelowna (0.6%) and Vancouver (0.7%) are the major Canadian centres with the lowest purpose built rental housing vacancy rates.
• On average across Canada's 34 larger centres, rental rates for a two-bedroom apartment rose by 2% compared to last year.
• The average rent for a two bedroom apartment is $995/month.
• Rental condominium vacancy rates ranged from a high of 6.8% in Edmonton to a low of 0.3% in Vancouver.
• Average month rental rates for a two-bedroom condominium apartment ranged from a high of $2,029/month in Toronto to a low of $1,033 in Québec City.

CMHC recognizes that there is demand to fill information gaps with respect to Canada's housing markets. To address this need CMHC has, for the first time, asked property managers to provide information on the total number of units that have been occupied by a new tenant in the past twelve months.

The results of this additional question indicate that the turnover rates in purpose built rental apartments in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and most centers in the Atlantic Canada were above the national average, while turnover rates in British Columbia, Quebec and Ontario were generally below the national average.

This release includes video.

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QUOTES

"Since last year, the supply of apartment units in the primary rental market increased more than the number of occupied units, causing the vacancy rate to increase slightly. That said, regional trends across the country were considerably different, roughly offsetting one another at the national level."

Anthony Passarelli, Senior Market Analyst, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation