CMHC Data: High Housing Vacancy Rate

The housing vacancy rate continues to increase in the main cities of the province. Indeed, according to data released last week by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the average vacancy rate in Quebec rose from 3.7% to 4.3% between October 2014 and 2015.

This is partly explained by the drop in migration as well as an increase of rental offers. In most census metropolitan areas (CMAs), vacancy rates were up, particularly in Saguenay where the percentage of vacant housing units made a skyrocketing climb of 3 point of percentage in just a year. Gatineau is the only city experiencing a slight decline in vacancy rates.

Région	Taux d'inoccupation octobre 2014 (%)	Taux d'inoccupation octobre 2015 (%)
Montréal	3,4	4,0
Québec	3,1	3,9
Gatineau	6,5	6,1
Saguenay	4,2	7,2
Sherbrooke	5,4	5,8
Trois-Rivières	5,3	6,2

Variation and average rent level Meanwhile, the change in the average rent level for apartments in existing buildings increased by 1.6% from October 2014 to October 2015, which is a milder hike than that seen in the same period last year (2.0% between 2013 and 2014). This reality is reflected in the market of six major CMAs which are all experiencing a slowdown in rent growth: Montreal (1.7%), Quebec (1.3%), Gatineau (0.9%), Saguenay (1.0%), Sherbrooke (1.3%) and Trois-Rivières (1.1%).In buildings with three units or more, the average rent of a 4 ½ reached an amount of 711$ in October 2015. Specifically, it is 757$ in Montreal, 788$ in Quebec, 747$ in Gatineau, 598$ in Saguenay, 608$ in Sherbrooke and 581$ in Trois-Rivières.The CMHC will publish its Rental Market Survey and final data on the 16th December 2015.