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New multi-family development reaching a new high in Canada could be the antidote to the nation’s dire housing shortage, a new report has suggested. National Bank of Canada Financial Markets released a report in June highlighting record highs for multi-family development permits, representing what it called a “glimmer of hope for the housing crisis.”
Consisting of about 84 per cent of all permits, based on a monthly seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR), multi-family saw gains in three of the four major provinces (Quebec being the exception) in May.
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All told, the month saw nearly 271,000 permits for multi-family units in Canada, SAAR.
Multi-family permits hit record highs in British Columbia where permits surged to more than 86,000. Alberta, too, set a record with more than 40,000 permits for multi-family issued.
Still, the report noted that despite improvements in supply and affordability in Canada’s housing market, affordability remains at among its lowest levels by historical standards.
Yet the 26 per cent, month-over-month jump in permits for new builds nationally was “encouraging” with the focus on multi-family meeting growing demand for rental housing amid record-high population growth driven by international migration. Another recent National Bank of Canada report also reflected the growing demand for rental as home resales fell 0.6 per cent in May across Canada, month over month, for the fourth consecutive month in a row.
Leading the decline was New Brunswick, down about nine per cent, Saskatchewan down nearly five per cent, and Quebec and Ontario, both down about two per cent.
Still, the report also noted that new listings grew by 0.5 per cent, the fourth advance in new listings in the last five months.
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