Rental market rises due to housing supply crunch

Housing affordability for many Greater Victoria employees has become even more strained in recent months as the cost of renting increased by 3.1% and the vacancy rate dropped to about 1%.

With more people choosing to move to our region, the demand for new housing is putting intense pressure on our ability to add to the supply. The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s Rental Market Survey Data Tables for Greater Victoria shows that a total of eight private apartments were added in the City of Victoria between October 2020 and October 2021. A further 643 were added in all other Greater Victoria municipalities during the same time. Meanwhile, the region’s population increased by 29,467 between the 2021 and 2016 censuses.