According to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), rental vacancy for two-bedroom purpose-built rental units dropped to a new low of 1.5% in October 2023. The report also highlights the increase in average rent growth to a new high of 8%.
There was little reprieve for Canadian renters in 2023, as tight supply-demand conditions pulled vacancy down and prices up. This is according to newfrom Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation ( CMHC ), which highlights that rental affordability was grim across the country, but grimmer still in Toronto .
, published Wednesday morning, CMHC reveals that vacancy for two-bedroom purpose-built rental units dropped to a “new low” (or at least, the lowest the metric’s been since the government agency began tracking the data in 1988) of 1.5% by October 2023.“Strong immigration and employment growth pushed up rental demand at the national level,” CMHC explains. “As for supply, it increased again, but not at a strong enough pace to keep up with rental demand.” At the same time, average rent growth for those same units crept up to a “new high” of 8%, according to the report, bringing the average rate to $1,359. That rate of growth well outpaced the 1990-to-2022 average of 2.8%, as well as the rates of inflation (4.7%) and wage growth (5%
Rental Vacancy Canada CMHC Supply-Demand Affordability Toronto Growth Immigration Employment