Greater Victoria tenants face higher cost increases than landlords: census

Renters in Greater Victoria face more serious affordability issues than their landlord counterparts, according to new census data released Wednesday.

About half of all housing built in Greater Victoria since 2016 is occupied by renters, a proportion that places the region eighth among census metropolitan areas in Canada in this regard.

As urban centers become denser, Statistics Canada said apartments in buildings five stories or more have been the fastest growing housing type nationally since 2016. The country’s overall rental supply fell between 1996 and 2006 and StatCan noted that increased demand is fueled by Canada’s aging population and younger people attracted to inner-city lifestyles.

New housing data shows that the first of the month is more difficult for renters. The increase in monthly costs that renters face (utilities and rent) have exceeded those paid by landlords, such as mortgage and property taxes. The median monthly housing cost for renters has increased by 17.6% since 2016, while homeowners have seen a 9.7% increase over this period.

Two in five tenant households in Greater Victoria will spend 30% or more of their income on housing costs in 2021, while only 17% of homeowners did. Both figures were slightly lower than 2016, but still eclipsed the national average.

Residents of the Capital Region are also more likely to be in core housing need compared to the national average.

The median income growth rate for renter households was twice that of homeowners nationwide from 2016 to 2020, but homeowners earned about twice as much overall.

Canada had more homeowners – reaching 10 million – in 2021 than at any other time in its history. But buying has been tougher over the past decade in British Columbia, which has seen the third-largest decline in homeownership in the province from 2011 to 2021.

Median after-tax household income has increased by 18% since 2016 (not accounting for inflation), while the average price of an owner-occupied home has increased by 39.6%.

“When the purchase price of a home rises faster than household incomes, it becomes harder for people to afford to buy a home,” StatCan said.

British Columbia has the highest proportion of condominium dwellers nationally, with approximately 23% of all households calling for condominiums. A fifth of households in Greater Victoria live in a condo – the fourth highest proportion in the province and the seventh nationally.

Condominiums are a gateway to home ownership and housing investment for many, StatCan said, with millennials making up the largest share of occupants. Just over three-quarters of BC condos in 2019 were owned by individual Canadian investors, not corporations or other entities. A third of first-time home buyers in British Columbia chose a condo in 2020.

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