Canada’s National Vacancy Rate Declines for Third Year

Ottawa, January 15, 2020

The national vacancy rate for rental apartment units declined in 2019 for a third consecutive year to 2.2%, its lowest level for all-bedroom types since 2002, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s (CMHC) Rental Market Survey (RMS) released today.

“The national vacancy rate for purpose-built rental apartments declined for a third consecutive year in 2019, as strong rental demand continued to outpace growth in supply,” said Bob Dugan, CMHC's chief economist. “Low vacancy rates in major centres underscore the need for increased rental supply to ensure access to affordable housing.”

Transcript

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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!

CMHC conducts the RMS annually in October to gauge how economic, demographic and other factors impact Canada’s rental markets. The survey is based on purpose-built structures with three or more rental units in urban areas with populations of over 10,000.

CMHC also surveys the secondary rental condominium apartment market in September in 17 major centres. Information on the number of condominium apartment units being rented out, the vacancy and rents is collected.

Highlights in vacancy rates for the purpose-built market

The national vacancy rate for purpose-built rental apartment units declined for a third year in 2019 to 2.2% down from 2.4% in 2018 for all-bedroom types.
Rental demand remains elevated in Vancouver (1.1%) and Toronto (1.5%) with vacancy rates in these markets remaining amongst the lowest in Canada in 2019.
The Montréal Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) vacancy rate reached a 15-year low (1.5%), driving the national decline. The vacancy rate also declined in Halifax (1.0%).
Vacancy rates in most other CMAs remained stable, including the major prairie markets of Calgary (3.9%), Regina (7.8%), and Winnipeg (3.1%).

Highlights in average rents for the purpose-built market

Nationally, tighter rental markets were accompanied by strong rent growth, with average rents increasing by 3.9% for a two-bedroom apartment between October 2018 and October 2019. This is the fastest pace of same-sample rent growth since October 2001.
The average rent for a two-bedroom apartment unit increased in Vancouver (4.9%), Montréal (3.4%), Calgary (2.2%) Toronto (6.1%) and Halifax (3.7%). While Vancouver was the only one of these CMAs to register a slowdown in the pace of rent growth in 2019, it remains above the national average.
The average two-bedroom apartment rent was highest in Vancouver ($1,748) and Toronto ($1,562). Calgary ($1,305) and Halifax ($1,202) remained above the national average, while Montréal ($855) continued to exemplify the relatively lower rent levels generally seen in the province of Quebec.

Highlights for secondary rental condominium apartment market

The average vacancy rate for rental condominium apartments across surveyed centres declined to 1.0% from 1.4%. This decline comes despite strong growth in the supply of rental condominium units since 2018 and is lower than the vacancy rate for purpose-built rentals.
Vancouver (0.3%), Calgary (0.9%) and Toronto (0.8%) reported vacancy rates below the national average.
Average two-bedroom condominium apartment rent levels were highest in Toronto ($2,476), Vancouver ($2,045) and Hamilton ($1,896).

Rental markets reports and data tables are available for CMAs across Canada on the CMHC website.

As Canada’s housing market experts, CMHC supports decision making on housing affordability and contributes to the stability of housing markets. CMHC provides support for Canadians in housing need, and offers objective housing research and information to Canadian governments, consumers and the housing industry.

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