More housing units and fewer students impact rent prices
The Windsor housing market is experiencing a stabilization in rental prices, with some units even seeing a decline, according to a recent report by rentals.ca and Urbanation.
For the third consecutive month, rents have remained stable or decreased in the region.
In June, the rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Windsor averaged $1,530, marking a 0.3% decrease from May and a 3.1% drop compared to the previous year. Two-bedroom units saw a slight 0.1% increase to $1,792 from May but remained 6.4% lower than a year ago.
“There is a lot of inventory right now with the students moving out,” said Patrice Surrette, owner of Windsor’s Goldmar Property Management, told the Windsor Star. “Some landlords are looking at the market availability and are trying to make their units look more affordable by setting a lower price point.”
Surrette, who manages 1,000 local units, noted that the market is adjusting to potential changes in international student numbers following the federal government's decision to reduce international student admissions.
“That change could have an interesting impact on Windsor’s market,” Surette explained. “We’re not going to have as many international students at both the college and the university. That’s going to result in a higher number of vacancies and lengthen the time it’ll take to get tenants.”
The Windsor market is further stabilized by an increasing number of newly built condos entering both the sales and rental markets. However, Surrette pointed out that rentals for single-family homes and studios, which are in short supply in Windsor, continue to see price increases.
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“A lot of families are renting single-family homes because they can’t afford to buy,” she said. “A really nice home in a good area – people are still willing to pay for. We’re also seeing landlords get good prices for bachelor units.
“There are a lot of two and three-bedroom units, so there’s a high vacancy rate as there always is when students leave in the spring. Landlords are responding this time trying to fill those units by lowering prices to make them more attractive rather than wait two months to see if the students come back.”
Nationally, rents have risen 7% compared to last June, the slowest rate of increase in the past 13 months. The national average rent now stands at $2,185.
“Rents at the national level are clearly levelling out,” said Urbanation president Shaun Hildebrand. “At this stage of the market, strong rent increases are mainly limited to inexpensive cities, particularly in the Canadian Prairies, while larger markets dealing with severe affordability issues are seeing rents slow or fall.”
Windsor was part of a province-wide trend of declining rents, with Ontario being the only province in Canada reporting a decline in June. The average rental price in Ontario was $2,382, with Windsor having the lowest average rental rate in the province and ranking 28th out of 35 Canadian municipalities included in the report.
Surrette noted that the Windsor market is evolving, with single-family home rental options shrinking due to higher mortgage interest rates. "A lot of those single-family home rentals are now going back into the resale housing market," he said. "It's displacing tenants in some cases with the sale."
The market is also seeing increased mobility among renters, particularly those who have rented in the past year or two.
"Rents haven't changed much in the past two years, so they'll seek lower terms and better amenities," Surrette said.
With the uncertainty surrounding student rentals and the surplus of units created to target that market, landlords are becoming more flexible in their negotiations with tenants, rather than relying solely on the influx of international students to fill vacancies.
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