Rental Affordability in Canada’s Five Major Centers

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The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation released a rental affordability study on October 31, 2007. Unfortunately, the study only includes five of Canada'’s major centers:
Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, Toronto and Halifax. However, it’s still a useful tool to see the state of the rental market.

According to the study, Montreal's rental market is the most affordable of the five centers, and rental affordability is declining in Calgary, which can be used to speculate about the
Edmonton rental market, as the two cities are fairly similar when it comes to housing and economy.

With rental affordability declining, it’s a good time to consider purchasing a home, as mortgage payments will remain constant, and you won’t need to worry about rent increasing year to year.

The rental affordability indicator will be released for other Canadian centers in December of this year, in CMHC’s Rental Market Reports.

To see the full press release about the rental affordability study, please continue reading.

To learn more about CMHC, please visit their website.

To explore your mortgage options, please contact First Foundation, or apply online today! You can also calculate your payments using our handy online mortgage calculators!


New Rental Affordability Study Ranks Canada’s Five Major Centres

OTTAWA, October 31, 2007 – Montreal’s rental market is the most affordable of Canada’s five major centres, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC)’s new rental affordability indicator. However, this year rental affordability in Toronto is increasing, while it is declining in Calgary and Montreal and remains stable in both Vancouver and Halifax.

“Affordability in the rental market is increasing in Toronto this year, as the median income of renter households grows at a faster pace than the median rent for a two-bedroom apartment,” said Bob Dugan, Chief Economist at CMHC’s Market Analysis Centre. “In contrast, the Calgary rental market is becoming less affordable. Although the median income of renter households in Calgary is increasing, job growth and a steady flow of people moving to Calgary are keeping renter demand strong and driving up the median rent even more.”

Although caution must be used when comparing rental affordability across centres, Montreal has the most affordable rental market in 2007, in spite of the marginal decline noted above, followed by Halifax, Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto.

The new rental affordability indicator is used to examine trends in rental affordability within a centre, and to compare affordability across centres. For each centre, the indicator compares the median income of its renter households against the income necessary to rent a median priced two-bedroom apartment within the centre, using a 30 per cent of income benchmark for rental costs. In general, as the indicator increases, the market becomes more affordable; as the indicator declines, the market becomes less affordable.

The rental affordability indicator is available in the October edition of Housing Now Canada for the following five major centres: Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, Toronto, and Halifax. The indicator will be available for additional centres as part of CMHC’s Rental Market Reports, which will be released in December.


As Canada’s national housing agency, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) draws on over 60 years of experience to help Canadians access a variety of quality, environmentally sustainable, and affordable homes — homes that will continue to create vibrant and healthy communities and cities across the country.

For more information call 1-800-668-2642.

Information on this release:

Kristen Scheel
CMHC
Media Relations
613-748-4632
kscheel @ cmhc-schl.gc.ca

Julie Girard
CMHC
Media Relations
613-748-4684
jagirard @ cmhc-schl.gc.ca

For regional information contact:

Halifax:

Matthew Gilmore
CMHC
902-426-4686
mgilmore @ cmhc-schl.gc.ca

Montreal:

Sandra Girard
CMHC
514-283-5075
sgirard @ cmhc-schl.gc.ca

Toronto:

Jason Mercer
CMHC
416-218-3410
jmercer cmhc-schl.gc.ca</p>

Calgary:

Lai Sing Louie
CMHC
403-515-2991
llouie @ cmhc-schl.gc.ca

Vancouver:

Robyn Adamache
CMHC
604-737-4144
radamach @ cmhc-schl.gc.ca


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