November 2025 labour force survey<\/a> showed that youth in the country saw employment growth for the first time this year last month, seeing 1.8 per cent growth.<\/p>\n\u201cYouth bore the brunt of a difficult labour market through most of 2025,\u201d StatCan says.<\/p>\n
The survey also notes that employment rates among \u201ccore-age\u201d people from 25 to 54 saw little change. The average employment rate in this group from 2017 to 2019 was 82.8 per cent, with November 2025 sitting at 83.4 per cent.<\/p>\n
The CMHC report says that vacancy rates were up significantly in the downtown core and in Saanich, \u201clargely due to higher rental supply in these areas.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Greater Victoria did still see above historic levels of purpose-built rental supply being added, it was at a slower pace than in 2024. Many new units were built in Saanich, Esquimalt and Langford.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur market intelligence suggests that developers and operators see Victoria\u2019s rental supply as mostly balanced but are cautious about new developments,\u201d the CMHC report says. <\/p>\n
\u201cLangford is seen as highly competitive, with landlords offering incentives that could slow future growth compared to recent expansions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Average rent for two-bedroom units were highest in Sidney and Langford.<\/p>\n
CMHC attributes the high rent prices in Sidney due to limited rental supply and strong demand for the amenities and lifestyle factors.<\/p>\n
Victoria also saw its highest turnover levels since 2019, due to the rapid growth of purpose-built rental stock.<\/p>\n
\u201cNew completions in Saanich helped ease tight market conditions in the area, leading to higher turnover rates,\u201d the CMHC report says.<\/p>\n
Christine Boyle, minister of housing and municipal affairs, said the increased vacancy rate in Victoria and Vancouver is a result of the work the B.C. government has done to get homes built faster.<\/p>\n
\u201cVacancy rates in Metro Vancouver and Greater Victoria are the highest they\u2019ve been in decades and rents are going down,\u201d Boyle said in a statement on Dec. 17. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn this past month, we have seen that B.C. continues to lead the country in asking-rent declines, down 8.5 per cent in the past two years. This means that, finally, more people are finding homes to live in for less.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boyle points to the work in cutting red tape to speed up approvals andn restricting short-term rentals as measures that helped ease the vacancy crunch.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe still have more good work to do to get to a point where housing is truly affordable for everyone. Renters can\u2019t afford to have the progress that we have achieved together undone,\u201d Boyle said in the statement. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t go backwards to the days of red tape and policies that fuelled speculation, blocked construction and drove housing costs beyond what everyday people could afford, pushing out people who shape and support our communities \u2013 people like bus drivers, teachers, health-care workers and construction workers \u2013 who shape and support our communities. We will not let up in delivering affordable housing for renters.\u201d<\/p>\n
National vacancy rate rose above 10-year average<\/p>\n
Across the country, the vacancy rate rose from 2.2 per cent in 2024 to 3.1 per cent.<\/p>\n
\u201cAcross Canada\u2019s largest rental markets, the imbalance that defined the past few years eased,\u201d the CMHC report says.<\/p>\n
\u201cHistorically strong completions of rental units and weaker demand caused by slower population and economic growth were responsible for softening rents.\u201d<\/p>\n
All major census metropolitan areas in the country saw vacancy rates rise for purpose-built rentals, with the largest increases being seen in areas with new rental completions or near post-secondary institutions.<\/p>\n
The CMHC notes there are signs that affordability levels are stablizing in the most expensive markets.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith more vacant units on the market, competition for tenants increased, which tempered rents on new leases,\u201d the report notes. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis gave prospective renters some relief and made less expensive units more available.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, this is paired with income growth slowing due to weaker labour market conditions, meaning affordability remains low.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs incomes grow and vacancy rates stay elevated, affordability is expected to improve more broadly next year,\u201d the report says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Victoria saw its highest vacancy rate since 1999 in 2025, which the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation partially…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":380387,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[45,49,48,46],"class_list":{"0":"post-380386","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-economy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}