Less than 3% of units in Montreal are available to rent

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the country’s national housing agency, just released its rental market report for 2022.

While most rent reports provide insights into asking rents, this report provides data on actual rent, making it extremely valuable to help understand what’s going on in the rental market.

Nationally, there’s been a massive dip in the vacancy rate, dropping from 3.1% to 1.9%.

CMCH

According to CMHC’s observations, the national demand for rental housing is so high because of a few possible reasons, including increased immigration, students’ demand for rental units as they return to campus, and high homeownership costs.

Montreal rental market insights

Things are similar in Montreal, where the current rental vacancy rate sits at less than 3%.

Economist Francis Cortellino said in the report that “strong demand in the rental market
pushed the vacancy rate down. Rent increases were also significant, especially for renters who moved.”

CMCH

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CMCH

Based on the stats, the CMHC says demand is recovering in Montreal, and vacancy rates are low in the suburbs.

CMCH

Meanwhile, rental demand has grown due to both rising youth employment and strong price increases in the housing market since the start of the pandemic. According to census data, in most age groups, renters made up a larger percentage of Montreal households in 2021 than in 2016. Economists believe this trend is likely to continue.