Methodology for Rental Market Survey

Survey definitions and methodology

CMHC conducts the annual Rental Market Survey in October to estimate the relative strengths in the rental market. The survey is conducted on a sample basis in all urban areas with populations of 10,000 or more. It targets only privately initiated structures with at least 3 rental units, which have been on the market for at least 3 months. Social and affordable housing structures or units are not included in the Rental Market Survey frame.

The survey collects market rent levels, availability¹, turnover and vacancy unit data for all sampled structures. Data is collected using a combination of telephone interviews and site visits. Information is obtained from the:

• owner
• manager, or
• building superintendent

The survey is conducted during the first 2 weeks of October and the results reflect market conditions at that time.

CMHC’s Rental Market Survey provides a snapshot of vacancy and turnover rates and average rents in both new and existing structures. The survey also provides a number of measures for average rent and change in rent, as follows:

Average rent: This represents rent levels in both new and existing structures. This is a weighted average of all units combined, whether vacant or occupied.

Average rent of occupied units: This represents rent levels in both new and existing structures for units which the respondent has not identified as vacant (see below definition of vacant).

Average rent of vacant units: This represents rent levels in both new and existing structures for units which the respondent has identified as vacant. This is also referred to as “asking” rent, that is, the rent the owner or property manager is asking for the unit.

Average rent of turnover units: This represents rent levels in both new and existing structures where the respondent has identified units which have turned over in the past 12 months (see below definition of turnover).

Average rent of non-turnover units: This represents rent levels in both new and existing structures for all remaining units which have not turned over in the past 12 months.

Percentage change (%) in average rent: This provides an estimate of rent level movement by eliminating the compositional effects of new structures, conversions and survey sample rotation. The estimate is based on existing rental structures that were common to the survey sample for both the previous year and the current Rental Market Survey year. It is important to note that some compositional effects can remain due to instances such as when an existing rental unit is renovated/upgraded or there is turnover of the rental unit. The estimated percentage change in average rent is only published if this estimate is statistically different than zero (0) as determined by a statistical test of significance. Rent levels in new and existing structures are also published; however, changes in rents that may be calculated based on new and existing structures may not have the same significance.

Definitions

Universe: This consists of all row projects and apartment structures with three or more units. The universe is presented as a sum of all rental units.

Rental Apartment Structure: Any building containing 3 or more rental units, of which at least 1 unit is not ground oriented. Owner-occupied units are not included in the rental building unit count.

Rental row (townhouse) structure: Any building containing 3 or more rental units, all of which are ground oriented, side-by-side, with common walls dividing each rental unit. Owner-occupied units are not included in the rental building unit count. These row units in some centres are commonly referred to as townhouses.

Vacancy: A unit is considered vacant if, at the time of the survey, the unit is physically unoccupied and available for immediate rental Available for immediate rental means a new lease has not been signed or the unit is not undergoing major renovations.

Turnover: A unit is counted as being turned over if it was occupied by a new tenant who moved in during the past 12 months. A unit can be counted as being turned over more than once in a 12-month period.

Availability: A rental unit is considered available if:

• the existing tenant has given, or has received, notice to move
• a new tenant has not signed a lease
• the unit is vacant (see above definition of vacant)

Rent: The rent refers to the actual amount tenants pay for their unit. No adjustments are made for the inclusion or exclusion of amenities and services such as heat, hydro, parking or hot water (i.e., utilities such as heating, electricity and hot water may or may not be included in the rent. For available and vacant units, the rent is the amount the owner is asking for the unit. The average rents reported in this publication provide a sound indication of the amounts paid by unit size and geographical sector.

Rental arrears: A unit is in arrears if the tenant is late paying rent by one month or more. The total dollar amount is a weighted estimate of the total dollar value amount in rent in arrears as of the end of September for the given Rental Market Survey year. Similarly, the number of units in arrears is a weighted estimate of the total units which are late paying rent. This data is reported by CMHC at the CMA level — with the exception of Charlottetown CA — and for all centres 10,000+ combined. Data is aggregated for all bedroom types combined.

Data reliability measures

CMHC does not publish a statistic if its reliability is too low or if publication of a statistic would violate confidentiality rules.

Unit counts (universe) are released as these are not estimates. However, for confidentiality, all other estimates — such as vacancy rates and average rent — are released only if a given estimate is based on 4 or more responding entities.

For reliability, the ability to publish an estimate is determined by the coefficient of variation (CV) for that estimate. A letter code representing the statistical reliability (for example, the CV) for each estimate is provided to indicate the data reliability. The CV of an estimate is defined as the ratio of the standard error of the estimate to the estimate itself and the CV is generally expressed a percentage. For example, let the average rent for one-bedroom apartments in each CMA be x̄ and its standard error be σx̄. Then the Coefficient of Variation is given by CV = σx̄/x̄.

Reliability codes for proportions

CMHC uses the coefficient of variation, sampling fraction and universe size to determine the ability to publish proportions. The following letter codes are used to indicate the level of reliability of proportions:

• A — Excellent
• B — Very good
• C — Good
• D — Poor (use with caution)
• ** — Data suppressed

The following tables indicate the level of reliability of proportions:

If the proportion is zero (0) and the sampling fraction is less than 100% then the following levels are assigned:

*(0, 20] means sampling fraction is greater than 0% but less than or equal to 20%; others are similar.

Otherwise, the following table is used to determine the reliability level of proportions:

Reliability codes for averages and totals

CMHC uses the coefficient of variation to determine the reliability level of the estimates of average rents and a coefficient of variation cut-off of 10% for publication of totals and averages. It is felt that this level of reliability best balances the need for high quality data and not publishing unreliable data.

CMHC assigns a level of reliability as follows ( the coefficient of variations are given in percentages):

• A — If the CV is greater than 0 and less than or equal to 2.5 then the level of reliability is Excellent.
• B — If the CV is greater than 2.5 and less than or equal to 5 then the level of reliability is Very Good.
• C — If the CV is greater than 5 and less than or equal to 7.5 then the level of reliability is Good.
• D — If the CV is greater than 7.5 and less than or equal to 10 then the level of reliability is Poor.
• ** — If the CV is greater than 10 then the estimate is suppressed and not published.

Other symbols

Other denotations used in presenting Rental Market Survey data:

• ++ refers to a change in rent is not statistically significant. This means that the change in rent is not statistically different than zero (0). This applies only to “Estimate of Percent Change of Average Rent” tables.
• — means that no units exist in the universe for this category
• n/a means not applicable/not available

Get all the information by reading the Rental Market Survey — Data Tables.

Note: The April version of this survey was conducted for the last time in 2015. The availability rate was collected between 2005 and 2017 exclusively; this series was discontinued in 2018.

¹ The availability estimate was calculated between 2005 and 2017; this estimate has since been discontinued.