Canadian condominium sellers are putting more of their homes on the market, presenting new buying opportunities to aspiring owners, according to residential brokerage Re/Max.
The 2024 Re/Max Canada Condominium Report looked at condominium activity between January and August in Greater Vancouver, Fraser Valley, the city of Calgary, Edmonton, Greater Toronto Area, Ottawa and the Halifax Regional Municipality, and said it "found that condo listings have soared in anticipation of increased demand in the fourth quarter of 2024 and early 2025."
In fact, between January and August, the Greater Toronto Area had a 52.8% jump in condo listing inventory while Calgary saw a 52.4% increase and Vancouver a 7.3% rise, according to the residential brokerage.
A large percentage of condominiums are rented out by their investor owners. A Statistics Canada study found that almost 40% of condos, usually high-rise, were owned by investors instead of end users and ultimately rented out.
"While investors are an important part of the purchaser pool, this point in time is a unique opportunity for aspiring condominium buyers who, for a short window of time, will likely see less competition from investors and a better supply of product," said Christopher Alexander, president of Re/Max Canada, in a commentary. "In Toronto and Vancouver, the impact of monetary policy has hit investor profit margins to a greater extent despite high rent and low vacancy rates."
The Re/Max report comes around the same time that another survey shows rent growth is slowing in the multifamily sector.
Slowing rental growth
In that survey, Rentals.ca reported the average asking rent for all residential property types rose by 2.1% in September from a year ago, reaching an average of $2,193 per month. It was the smallest annual increase since October 2021.
“Rents in Canada are increasing at their slowest pace in nearly three years, largely the result of foreign student enrollments dropping by roughly a half from their record highs, with the impact felt most in B.C. and Ontario,” said Shaun Hildebrand, president of Urbanation, in a commentary. The condo research firm produces the report with Rentals.ca.
Moreover, in the condominium apartment segment, rents declined by 1.7% from a year ago, averaging $2,296 in September, according to the Urbanation-Rentals.ca survey.
As for year-over-year condo apartment sales, they were down 8.1% in the Greater Toronto Area through Aug. 31, according to Re/Max. Year-over-year condo apartment sales in Calgary were up 2.6%, and down 8.2% in Vancouver during the period, according to Re/Max.
Re/Max said with the market relatively soft for investors, it was a great time for people to buy condos they would live in instead of rent out.
It noted that in Greater Toronto, up to 30% of investors have experienced negative cash flow on rental properties as mortgage carrying costs climbed.