As Canada’s rental vacancy rates decreased over the past year, the average monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Canada was pushed up to $989 in October, a rise of 2.7 per cent in the past 12 months, according to a new report by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).
Canada’s housing authority said in its annual report Tuesday that rents increased by twice the inflation rate this year, as booming demand for rental units pushed up prices, despite more of them being built.
The largest increases were registered in British Columbia, led by Kelowna (8.6 per cent), Victoria (8.1 per cent) and Vancouver (6.2 per cent), the report said.
Strong increases were also recorded in Ontario, mainly within the so-called Greater Golden Horseshoe region around Toronto.
Centres in Ontario with strong rent increases included Belleville (5.9 per cent), Oshawa (5.2 per cent), Hamilton (5.1 per cent), Barrie (4.6 per cent) and Toronto (4.2 per cent).
Average monthly rents for two-bedroom apartments in new and existing structures were highest in Vancouver ($1,552), Toronto ($1,404) and Calgary ($1,247).
Rents were lowest in three municipalities in the Province of Quebec: Trois-Rivières ($594), Saguenay ($605) and Sherbrooke ($631).
Vacancy rates down
The average vacancy rate for purpose-built rental apartment units across Canadian centres with a population of 10,000 or more decreased from 3.7 per cent in October 2016 to 3.0 per cent in October 2017, said the CMHC report said.
“Nationally, increased demand for purpose-built rental apartment units outpaced growth in supply, leading to a decline in the vacancy rate and a reversal of the trend we’ve seen over the last two years,” Gustavo Durango, senior market analyst at CMHC, said in a statement.
“Demand for purpose-built rental apartments can be attributed to historically high levels of positive net international migration, improving employment conditions for younger households and the on-going aging of the population.”
With files from CBC News
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