P.E.I. RENTAL VACANCY RATE THE LOWEST IN THE COUNTRY

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporate (CMHC) data, released on Dec. 17, shows that the province’s rental vacancy rate – the percentage of apartments and townhouses that were vacant – dropped from 1.1 per cent in October 2023 to 0.8 per cent in October 2024.

P.E.I. has had the lowest vacancy rate of any province for five of the last seven years, although the province was tied with Nova Scotia for this distinction in 2023.

The drop in the vacancy rate also comes as the province has provided many developers with low-cost capital to finance rental unit builds.

The province did have a strong year for housing starts. Between July and October, there were 626 housing starts overall – the highest three-month total seen in the province since 1961. But most of these units have yet to be completed.

The vacancy rate for Charlottetown was 0.7 per cent in 2024, up from 0.5 per cent in the previous year.

The vacancy rate for Summerside, which had appeared to jump to 4.2 per cent in 2023, sank back down to 1.1 per cent in 2024.

CMHC classified the 2023 vacancy rate data in Summerside with a “c” quality indicator, while its 1.1 per cent vacancy rate for 2024 was deemed “a,” indicating the data was of higher quality.

Between the two cities, the CMHC data shows that average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment in P.E.I. increased from an average of $903 in 2023 to $1,000 in 2024 – an increase of more than 10 per cent. Rent for two-bedroom apartments grew from $1,130 in 2023 to $1,181 in 2024 – an increase of just under five per cent.