The average rental apartment vacancy rate in Canada's 35 major metro areas increased to 2.6% in October, up 2.2% from October 2011, according to new data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC).
‘Lower levels of household formation among young adults reduced rental housing demand,’ says Mathieu Laberge, deputy chief economist at CMHC's Market Analysis Center. ‘This, combined with an increase in the supply of newly constructed, purpose-built rental apartments, pushed Canada's vacancy rate upward. Meanwhile, demand for rental condominium apartments remained strong, with the vacancy rate holding steady in most of Canada's largest urban centers, including Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.’
In October, the major metro areas with the lowest vacancy rates in the primary apartment rental market were in Regina (1%), Thunder Bay (1.1%) and Calgary (1.3%). The metro areas with the highest vacancy rates were Saint John (9.7%), Windsor (7.3%) and Moncton (6.7%).
Rental condominium vacancy rates ranged from a high of 3.2% in Ottawa to a low of 0.9% in Saskatoon. The average monthly rents for two-bedroom condominium apartments were highest in Vancouver (C$1,662) and lowest in Quebec (C$1,022).