Renting is growing much faster than home ownership in Canada

The number of households who rent, as opposed to owning their home, grew by more than double between 2011 and 2021. This is according to new data released by Statistics Canada. The survey found that the number of households renting grew by more than 21% in the ten years between 2011 and 2011. In contrast, the number of households who own their home grew by just over 8% over the same 10-year period.

Overall, there are still significantly more households who own their home than rent, but the gap is closing. In 2021, there were approximately 10 million homeowners, as opposed to 5 million renters. However, Canadians were less likely to own their homes in 2021 (66.5%), down from the peak of home ownership in 2011 (69%).

The shift away from home ownership is most notable amongst young adults, who typically want to buy, rather than rent. The stats showed that in 2011, about 44% of those aged 25-29 owned their own home. Fast forward ten years, and that percentage has fallen to 36.5%. Looking at those aged 30-34 tells a similar story, with 52.3% of the population being homeowners, down from 59.2% ten years prior.

Homeowners have seen their properties appreciate rapidly between 2011 and 2021, with the average home price more than double what it was ten years earlier. Although homeowners and renters have seen an increase in their living costs, this is significantly more among renters. In the previous five years, renters’ monthly costs grew by 17.6%, almost double that of the 9.7% increase in costs experienced by homeowners. These costs include maintenance and repairs.

Not surprisingly, a large percentage of new homes built between 2016 and 2021 are occupied by renters (40.4%). This is significantly higher than new homes built between 2011 and 2015 (28.5%).

These latest stats also help to explain why rental prices have been surging. When home ownership goes down and there are more renters in the market, this typically pushes rental rates up.

With the steeper rental rates, there has been a surge in the number of condos built across Canada. For example, 55.8% of all new properties built between 201 and 2021 were condos in Toronto. The percentage in Montreal and Vancouver was over 50% as well. More than one- third of all condos in Canada were rented out in 2021 which highlights the greater need for affordable housing.