October 2014 Rental Market in the Greater Toronto Area

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Dec. 16, 2014) - Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) released its 2014 Fall Rental Market Survey for the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) today. The average vacancy rate^[1] for purpose-built rental apartments remained unchanged^[2] at 1.6 per cent in October 2014 compared to the previous year.

"Rising house prices and sluggish wage growth have helped to keep more households in rental accommodation this year," said Dana Senagama, CMHC's Senior Market Analyst for the GTA. "Lack of new supply in the purpose-built rental market has created strong spill over demand into the rental condominium market. Increasingly, rental condominium apartments are becoming the popular housing choice among young adults who are choosing to live in core urban centres with closer access to work and transit."

On the basis of a sample of structures common to both the 2014 and 2013 surveys^[3], the average two-bedroom apartment rent increased by 2.7 per cent in the GTA.

CMHC's Fall Rental Market Report for the GTA also includes information on the secondary rental market. The average condominium apartment vacancy rate decreased to 1.3 per cent in 2014 from 1.8 per cent in the previous year. The total stock of condominium apartment units that are being rented out increased to 29 per cent in 2014 from 27 per cent a year earlier.

CMHC recognizes that there is demand to fill information gaps with respect to Canada's housing markets. To address this need CMHC has, for the first time, asked property managers to provide information on the total number of condominium apartment units owned by people whose permanent residence is outside of Canada as part of its survey. The condominium foreign investment information was collected in 11 Census Metropolitan Areas (CMA) in Canada. They include: Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montréal and Québec.

The results of this additional question indicate that the percentage of foreign investment in condominiums in Victoria is 1.1 per cent, Vancouver 2.3 per cent, Calgary 0.2 per cent, Edmonton 0.1 per cent, Saskatoon 0.3 per cent, Regina 0.1 per cent, Winnipeg 0.1 per cent, Toronto 2.4 per cent, Ottawa 0.7 per cent, Montréal 1.5 per cent and Québec 0.6 per cent. With respect to location, the city core in Canada's largest rental markets (Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver) experienced larger foreign condominium ownership. (More details can be found on page 5 of the National report).

Rental Market data is also available in English and French at the following link: CMA Rental Market Report

As Canada's authority on housing, CMHC contributes to the stability of the housing market and financial system, provides support for Canadians in housing need, and offers objective housing research and advice to Canadian governments, consumers and the housing industry.

Follow CMHC on Twitter @CMHC.ca

This release is also available at www.cmhc.ca

^[1] The survey is based on privately-initiated rental apartment structures of three or more units.

^[2]The change in the vacancy rate for the current year was not significantly different, on a statistical basis, from the previous year.

^[3] Year-over-year comparisons of average rents can be slightly misleading because rents in newly built structures tend to be higher than in existing buildings. Excluding new structures and focusing on structures existing in both the October 2013 and October 2014 surveys provides a better indication of actual rent increases paid by tenant.

Additional data is available upon request.

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