Canada’s rental vacancy rate reached all-time recorded low as average rent climbs: CMHC
Canada’s overall rental vacancy rate reached a new low of 1.5 per cent in 2023, according to a Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) report that included a new high for average national rent.
The vacancy rate is the lowest recorded since 1988, when CMHC began recording the metric. It reflects the percentage of available units compared to the number of rental properties across the country.
A lower rate typically means greater competition among renters and a higher incentive for unit owners to raise their rates.
“Although most Canadian cities saw increased rental supply, it was not enough to keep pace with increased demand pressures,” read a media release from the CMHC published Wednesday.
The corporation says higher mortgage rates put home ownership out of reach for many, meaning more people are staying in the rental market.
Average rent in Canada up
Rental prices for two-bedroom purpose-built apartments accelerated “sharply,” according to the report, to eight per cent.
That left renters paying, on average, $1,359 per month for those units, in a jump that outpaced both inflation (4.7 per cent) and wage growth (five per cent).
For a rate to be considered affordable, it should cost less than 30 per cent of a renter’s monthly income, the CMHC said.
Lower-income renters faced significant competition in their hunts for affordable rates. In some cities, finding those units was next to impossible.
According to the CMHC, the proportion of units which could be considered affordable for the bottom 20 per cent of earners was “statistically zero” in Vancouver, Ottawa and Toronto.
In Edmonton, those units made up 12.7 per cent of total spaces. In Calgary, just 3.1 per cent of units had rates that lower-income renters could consider affordable.
Montreal was an outlier in that regard, with 18.1 per cent of units available at affordable rates for low-income earners. However, many of those units were either bachelor or one-bedroom units, which might be too small for families.
