New report highlights the Canadian rental sector's main price growth drivers and challenges
Stalled construction and supply shortages impelled record-high rent prices across Canada, according to liv.rent’s recently released 2024 Rental Market Trend Report.
The nationwide average monthly rent price for an unfurnished one-bedroom unit clocked in at $1,857. The study said that immigration was a prime mover of higher rent prices, with 2023 immigration levels surpassing the previous peaks seen in 2011.
The study cited Calgary in particular as emblematic of the phenomenon: while the market there saw a 27% upswing in the number of ongoing housing projects in 2023, the combination of elevated interest rates and mounting construction expenses led to a 4% decline in project completions during the same period.
“Although Calgary is still far cheaper to rent in than popular rental markets like Vancouver and Toronto, the city’s average rent prices saw a steep upward trend throughout 2023,” liv.rent said.
The Calgary average monthly rent registered at $1,620.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland is set to announce tax changes aimed at restricting the use of Airbnb and other short-term rental services in regions of Canada with existing restrictions.
— Canadian Mortgage Professional Magazine (@CMPmagazine) November 21, 2023
Read more: https://t.co/RlgJD3KkPz#mortgageindustry #airbnb
For the first time since 2012, British Columbia saw a net outflow of residents to other provinces, contrasting with its highest annual population growth since 1974, which has been predominantly fuelled by immigration.
“Vancouver saw the second-lowest population growth in the Metro Vancouver region,” liv.rent said. “Vancouver’s population grew by just +2% in 2023, while Richmond experienced a +10% year-over-year population growth.”
The report also found that the rental price gap between the City of Toronto and surrounding municipalities like Markham and Mississauga is shrinking, with Markham emerging as the most expensive city in the province at an average monthly rent of $2,312.
“Rent prices in the Greater Toronto Area increased more in 2023 than in 2022,” liv.rent said. “Looking at the GTA as a whole, rent prices increased by +16% between 2022 and 2023, compared to a+10% year-over-year increase between 2021 and 2022.”
