Landlords may have more difficulty renting their units

Finding tenants could prove more difficult for landlords, especially in the CMAS of Montreal and Quebec City. At least, this is what the CMHC (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation) data revealed during their 2015 Housing Outlook Conferences.

This forecast is based on at least three major demographic trends, which are poor employment growth, net migration and household evolution.

To start, employment growth will remain weak in Montreal (1% increase per year) and the job market will be stable in Quebec until 2017. This phenomenon often results in students and young adults staying in their family home, and therefore diminishing the rental demand.

Moreover, and despite the fact that Montreal can count on a slight increase of its migration in the two coming years, the rate is still low compared to previous years. In Quebec, net migration will be maintained until 2017, thus keeping rental demand at lower levels than in recent years.

Finally, a slight annual growth in the number of households is expected, although the face of the population is likely to witness some change.

Indeed, in the CMA of Montreal, the number of households of people of 55 years or more will experience a significant annual growth of 5.4% until 2021. However, the number of households of people under 55 years will stagnate.

As for Quebec, households of 65 year olds or more will witness an increase of 20% until 2021, but there will be no growth for younger households.

The cohort of seniors will therefore become increasingly significant and probably change their mode of habitation. While it is reasonable to think that many of them will switch to renting, one question remains to be answered and that is to figure out which type of rental property will determine their choice: retirement homes, rental condos, new or used housing units?

If we add to that the high vacancy rates currently in effect in Quebec, we can conclude that landlords may have more difficulties finding new tenants in the coming years.