data<\/a>.<\/p>\nToday, while annual rent increases have now slowed from their peak of 14.6 per cent in October 2023, the latest figures show Nova Scotia rents still increased by an average of 8.7 per cent in July compared to the same month last year.<\/p>\n
According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, one reason this is happening is due to the location where new rentals are primarily being built.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe rental story today isn\u2019t just about Halifax anymore,\u201d said Kelvin Ndoro, CMHC lead economist for the Atlantic region. He says population growth is becoming more dispersed across Nova Scotia.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut housing supply growth remains heavily concentrated in Halifax,\u201d Ndoro said. \u201cSo that mismatch can keep provincial rent pressures elevated.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ndoro would like to see more rental stock being built in other areas, citing Kentville, N.S., as an example where vacancy rates have been lower than in Halifax.<\/p>\n
Another factor, says real estate consultant Neil Lovitt, is that many rental units likely have prices still below market rates because of the province\u2019s five per cent cap on annual rent increases.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo there is this sort of slower momentum to the way the market behaves here, because prices just take longer to adjust,\u201d said Lovitt, a vice-president with the firm Turner Drake and Partners.<\/p>\n
Since 2018, rent increases in Nova Scotia have outpaced the national average, going up about 57 per cent on average compared to about 39 per cent in Canada overall, according to consumer price index data.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While the new housing supply built in recent years has not decreased prices overall, Lovitt said it has made a difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat supply has certainly had a positive impact in terms of blunting how bad things could have been otherwise,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Real estate consultant Neil Lovitt says the new housing supply built in Nova Scotia in recent years has not decreased prices overall, but it has helped prevent housing affordability from being worse than it could have been. (Andrew Lam\/CBC)<\/p>\n
According to Ndoro, Nova Scotia\u2019s rental market is easing up, particularly in Halifax, with vacancy rates having improved.<\/p>\n
That means potentially more tenants moving to new units, where there are typically much higher rent increases, as the rent cap only applies to lease renewals.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you can actually end up seeing rent growth remaining elevated \u2026 even as market conditions improve,\u201d Ndoro said.<\/p>\n
At the same time, when it comes to the most affordable units, he said vacancy rates are still very tight and \u201clower-cost rental options remain very scarce.\u201d<\/p>\n
Renters\u2019 experiences with affordability have not improved overall, said Catherine Leviten-Reid, a Cape Breton University professor who researches affordable housing.<\/p>\n
Leviten-Reid interviews low-income individuals and families as part of her research.<\/p>\n
She said rent increases of three to five per cent, for example, represent a \u201chuge increase for a low-income household\u201d considering income assistance rates increased by less than two per cent<\/a> this year.<\/p>\nThat\u2019s \u201cless compared to the rental increase that they\u2019re, you know, going to be asked to pay for from their landlord.\u201d<\/p>\n
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