The turnover rate amongst renters in Hamilton was also rather low at 11.1 per cent in 2023, which is reportedly the lowest since first tracked in 2016. Photo Credit: Homestead.
A new report by Canada’s federal crown corporation for housing, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), has determined that rent supply in the country is “vastly insufficient.”
The report has also found that vacancy rates across the country have hit a new low of 1.5 per cent in 2024, the lowest recorded rate since 1988 when CMHC began recording the statistic.
As a result, there are “less available purpose-built rental apartments” and there is “lower affordability” in Canada’s rental market.
Those findings were made even though most Canadian cities actually saw an increase in rental supply.
However, those increases in rental supply could not keep up with the high demand caused by population growth, high mortgage rates, and high home prices which have kept Canadian residents out of homeownership and stuck in the rental market.
“Again in 2023, strong rental demand continued to outpace supply in communities across the country, making it very difficult for renters to find housing they can afford,” said Kevin Hughes, CMHC’s Deputy Chief Economist.
“The vacancy rates and rent increases we are observing are further evidence the current level of rental supply in Canada is vastly insufficient and the need to increase this supply is urgent.”
The report also examines 18 regions individually, including the City of Hamilton.
In terms of local observations, CMHC says that the purpose-built rental apartment vacancy rate in Hamilton “edged up to” 2.1 per cent in 2023, which is still the second-lowest level in 21 years (since 2002).
The report also says that the average rent for a two-bedroom unit increased by a record 13.7 per cent year over year from 2022 to 2023.
In Hamilton a number of demographic conditions have combined to favour the rental market including record immigration, a growing young adult population, and the fact that a high percentage of the population is aging.
In terms of immigration, the report states that Ontario’s net international migration hit a new record high in 2023, increasing by 56 per cent compared to 2022, with non-permanent residents with work and study permits accounting “for the largest share of these migration flows.”
From January 2023 to September 2023 the population of adults aged 25 to 44 also reportedly increased by 5.1 per cent, a group which makes up close to 40 per cent of renters in Hamilton.
Furthermore, the share of seniors aged 65 and older reached 20 per cent in 2023 and makes up about 25 per cent of renter households.
The turnover rate amongst renters in Hamilton was also rather low at 11.1 per cent in 2023, which is reportedly the lowest since first tracked in 2016.
CMHC notes that renters likely feel pressured to stay put and not change their rental accommodations in order to avoid higher costs.
Exemplifying why the rental market has such high demand, CMHC offers the scathing conclusion that even a 20 per cent down payment is not enough for a “median-income household to secure a mortgage for a median-priced condominium” in the city.
One of the exceptions in terms of vacancy rate is Hamilton’s downtown core, where the rate actually rose by 0.6 per cent to 2.7 per cent.
The report does not give a specific indication of why that is the case in Hamilton’s downtown although it would appear to indicate either an increase in rental supply or a decrease in demand.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
