A new CMHC report reveals that most of Canada’s purpose-built rental apartments are owned by individual investors or private corporations.

The report, entitled “Rental Ownership Structure in Canada”, is part of an on-going effort to address data gaps, focusing on the ownership structure of the purpose-built rental market and the extent of foreign ownership within that segment of housing in Canada. The data reported comes from a new set of questions added to CMHC’s 2016 Rental Market Survey.

“Purpose-built rental buildings are an important part of the rental supply in Canada, especially in urban centres where they house slightly more than half of households who rent,” said Gustavo Durango Senior Economist, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. “While individual investors and private corporations own the bulk of these buildings, it’s interesting to note that these groups are not evenly represented across major markets.”

Highlights from the CMHC report

•  Roughly 90 per cent of purpose-built rental apartment units in Canada are owned by individual investors and private corporations
• Units owned by individual investors tend to have lower rents than units owned by other ownership types, but the difference between them is smallest in the most expensive markets.
• The share of foreign ownership of purpose-built rental apartments is small. Nationally, it stands at just 2.4 per cent.

The report presents average national results across major centres, while highlighting the markets of Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax. These five centres were chosen for more detailed analysis because they are the largest rental markets in their respective regions in terms of their share of the overall stock of the purpose-built rental apartment market.

The first part of the report defines the different types of owners and discusses overall market shares while highlighting key regional differences. The second part presents results on average rent levels, age of structures, vacancy rates and the size of structures associated with the different types of owners. The third part discusses results relating to the foreign ownership of the purpose-built rental apartment stock.

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