Canada’s National Vacancy Rate Declines for Third Year

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Visual: The entire screen is covered by a blue transparent background through which a moving aerial shot of a building can be seen on the right. A white box containing the blue words “2019 CMHC Rental Market Survey” appears on top of the background in the upper left corner.

Visual: The camera cuts to Bob Dugan speaking. He is shown wearing a suit and tie. He is sitting in a lime-green chair against a white backdrop. The words “Bob Dugan, Chief Economist – CMHC” appear in a white box in the lower right corner.

Each fall, CMHC carries out a Rental Market Survey that collects information on important rental market variables.

Let’s take a look at what happened in five of Canada’s major cities in 2019.

Vancouver

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Visual: The entire screen is covered by a blue transparent background through which a moving aerial shot of the city of Vancouver is shown. On top of the background, the word “Vancouver” in white capital letters appears in the middle.

The word “Vancouver” disappears and is replaced, on the right, by a round logo containing some of the city’s main landmarks with the word “Vancouver” underneath and, on the left, by the words “Vacancy rate 1.1%” The percentage “1.1%” is written in bold.

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The words “Vacancy rate 1.1%” disappear and are replaced by “Average rent $1,469 up by 4.7%.” The amount and the percentage are written in bold.

Despite record construction of new units in Vancouver, strong rental demand kept vacancy rates low, remaining virtually unchanged at 1.1%.

The average apartment rent increased 4.7% to $1,469 in the last year. This is the fifth consecutive year average rents have increased by more than the provincially allowable increase.

Calgary

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The entire screen is covered by a green transparent background through which a moving shot of the city of Calgary taken from the ground is shown. On top of the background, the word “Calgary” in white capital letters appears in the middle.

The word “Calgary” disappears and is replaced, on the left, by a round logo containing some of the city’s main landmarks with the word “Calgary” underneath and, on the right, by the words “Vacancy rate 3.9%” The percentage “3.9%” is written in bold.

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The words “Vacancy rate 3.9%” disappear and are replaced by “Average rent $1,181 up by 1.7%.” The amount and the percentage are written in bold.

At. 3.9%, vacancy rates were also stable in Calgary despite a 75% increase of newly completed rental units in 2019.

The average rent Calgarians pay was up 1.7%, reaching $1,181.

Toronto

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Visual: The entire screen is covered by a blue transparent background through which a moving aerial shot of the city of Toronto is shown. On top of the background, the word “Toronto” in white capital letters appears in the middle.

The word “Toronto” disappears and is replaced, on the right, by a round logo containing some of the city’s main landmarks with the word “Toronto” underneath and, on the left, by the words “Vacancy rate 1.5%.” The percentage “1.5%” is written in bold.

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The words “Vacancy rate 1.5%” disappear and are replaced by “Average rent $1,452 up by 6.8%.” The amount and the percentage are written in bold.

Demand for rental is still outweighing the available supply in Toronto.

That’s why Toronto’s vacancy rate edged up slightly in the last year, reaching 1.5%.

Average rents grew 6.8% to hit $1,452.

Montréal

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The entire screen is covered by a green transparent background through which a moving aerial shot of the city of Montréal is shown. On top of the background, the word “Montréal” in white capital letters appears in the middle.

The word “Montréal” disappears and is replaced, on the left, by a round logo containing some of the city’s main landmarks with the word “Montréal” underneath and, on the right, by the words “Vacancy rate 1.5%” The percentage “1.5% ” is written in bold.

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The words “Vacancy rate 1.5%” disappear and are replaced by “Average rent $841 up by 3.6%.” The amount and the percentage are written in bold.

The vacancy rate in Montréal reached a 15-year low. It decreased to 1.5% in the last year.

Montréal tenants pay $841 on average for their rental unit, up 3.6% from 2018.

Halifax

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Visual: The entire screen is covered by a blue transparent background through which a moving shot of the city of Halifax taken from the water is shown. The word “Halifax” in white capital letters appears in the middle.

The word “Halifax” disappears and is replaced, on the right, by a round logo containing some of the city’s main landmarks with the word “Halifax” underneath and, on the left, by the words “Vacancy rate 1.0%.” The percentage “1.0%” is written in bold.

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The words “Vacancy rate 1.0%” disappear and are replaced by “Average rent $1,113 up by 3.8%.” The amount and the percentage are written in bold.

The vacancy rate in Halifax continued to trend lower in 2019, down 1.6% to 1.0%.

Average rents increased by 3.8% as demand outpaced new rental apartment supply yet again. Haligonians pay an average of $1,113 on rent.

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cmhc.ca/RMR

Visual: The camera cuts back to Bob Dugan.

The screen then fades to white with the words “cmhc.ca/RMR” written in blue in the middle of the screen. The blue text is then replaced by the Canada Wordmark on the left and the bilingual CMHC logo on the right.

So, what do these numbers tell us? Low vacancy rates in major centres underscore the need for increased rental supply to ensure people in Canada have access to affordable housing. Download your city’s 2019 Rental Market Report to learn more!