Prices for certain types of rental housing increased faster in Moncton than elsewhere in the country last year.
New data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) paint a nuanced picture of what many have called the rental housing crisis in New Brunswick.
According to CMHC, the average rent for two-bedroom apartments increased 4.7% in Moncton between October 2019 and October 2020. The national average for the same type of apartment during this period is 3.6%.
Thus, the rent for this type of housing increased more rapidly in Moncton last year than in Toronto (4.5%), Halifax (4.2%), Montreal (3.6%), Charlottetown (2.7%) and Vancouver (1.5%).
The average increase in the price of two-bedroom apartments for New Brunswick as a whole (3.7%), however, was similar to the national average in 2020.
The average increase in Saint John and Fredericton was 3.5% and 3.2% respectively.
Fredericton ($ 986) has the highest average rental cost for a two-bedroom apartment in New Brunswick, followed by Moncton ($ 949) and Saint John ($ 825). The average in New Brunswick is $ 895.
There has been a lot of talk about the rental housing crisis in recent months in the province. In particular, the media reported many tenants struggling with rent increases that far exceeded the rate of inflation.
In New Brunswick, tenants have little or no protection against excessive rent increases and evictions.
Organizations have been formed to defend the rights of tenants and convince the provincial government to intervene.
In general, rental housing owners oppose regulation of their industry and say most rent increases are reasonable.
So far, Prime Minister Blaine Higgs’ government has sided with the homeowners in calling the stories that have found their way into the media as isolated.
According to Tad Mangwengwende, a CMHC analyst, the increase in rents in New Brunswick in 2020, especially in Moncton, proves that the rental market has been “tight” for a while in the region.
Due to the additional barriers to settling newcomers caused by the pandemic, the pressure on the rental market should have eased, he points out, but that did not happen.
“Even when we were in a period of respite from a reduction in the number of newcomers, because the market is under pressure, the average rent has continued to rise.
However, the analyst does not go so far as to talk about a rental housing crisis in New Brunswick.
“2020 has been a crazy year. Even now the world is still a pretty crazy place. So, until the dust settles, it’s hard to say that’s the new direction things are going. ”
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