Canada has a national apartment shortage, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).
Canada's overall apartment vacancy rate dropped for a second year in a row during 2018, but demand for rental housing grew at a faster pace than supply, exacerbating a shortage across the country, said CMHC in its annual rental market survey.
Ontario, British Columbia and Manitoba all saw an increase in apartment vacancy rates, while Quebec, Alberta, Saskatchewan and the Atlantic provinces all saw declines during this year.
The report, which looks at purpose-built rental units and condo apartments available for rent, found the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Canada jumped by 3.5% from October 2017 to October 2018. This increase was higher than the rate of inflation during this period. B.C. saw the largest climb in rent, with Kelowna recording a 9.4% increase.
Overall, the apartment vacancy rate across the country was 2.4% between October 2017 and October 2018, down from 3% in 2017. CMHC said the number of occupied units climbed by 2.5% in October 2018, compared with an increase of 1.9% in the same month a year earlier.
