Several apartments in new construction in the Greater Moncton area are increasingly struggling to find tenants. These are often the most expensive on the market.
If the vacancy rate for rental units increased from 1.2% to 1.5%, from October 2023 to the same period in 2024, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the average vacancy rate for apartments of $1500 and over last year was 2.8%.
To fill them, developers compete with strategies to attract tenants. A balanced housing market according to CMHC is one where the vacancy rate is around 3%. CMHC states that the average vacancy rate for houses priced between $750 and $1,499 is 0.6%.
The average rent for a 2-bedroom unit in Canada is around $1447 in 2024 compared to $1365 in Moncton.
What impact on the rent?
If vacancy rates were to increase further, other rental incentives such as lower rent are unlikely to materialize. The developers emphasize that to make the cost of their housing profitable, prices cannot fall below a certain level.
For his part, a real estate developer mentions that it is difficult to rent a two-bedroom apartment in a residential building for less than $1300 per month due to construction costs.