Migration cuts cooling some rents
After cuts to Canada’s immigration levels, rising vacancy rates are starting to pull rents and some home prices down in parts of the country, though the country remains broadly unaffordable. Coverage frames the change as partial relief rather than a full resolution of affordability pressures. (theguardian.com)
Canada’s rent declines are starting to line up with Ottawa’s migration cuts, as vacancy rates rise and some home prices soften in the country’s biggest markets. (canada.ca) The federal government’s 2025-2027 immigration plan, announced on October 24, 2024, cut permanent resident targets to 395,000 in 2025, 380,000 in 2026 and 365,000 in 2027. It also set temporary resident targets for the first time and aimed to reduce temporary residents to 5% of Canada’s population by the end of 2026. (canada.ca) Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation said the average vacancy rate for purpose-built rental apartments in major centres rose to 3.1% in 2025 from 2.2% in 2024. The agency tied the increase to historically high rental completions and slower population and economic growth. (cmhc-schl.gc.ca) Rentals.ca and Urbanation said the average asking rent across Canada fell to $2,008 in March 2026, down 5.3% from a year earlier and the lowest level in 35 months. March was the 18th straight month of annual rent declines, according to their April 9 report. (rentals.ca) That cooling follows years of extreme pressure. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation said the national purpose-built vacancy rate was 1.5% in 2023 and 2.2% in 2024, both below the 10-year historical average of 2.7%. (cmhc-schl.gc.ca) The immigration cuts were sold in part as a housing measure. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said the lower targets were meant to “lessen pressures on services and housing” while keeping economic immigration in place. (canada.ca) The temporary resident side is a big part of the change. Ottawa’s supplementary plan set targets for new temporary resident arrivals at 673,650 in 2025, 516,600 in 2026 and 543,600 in 2027, with international students making up 45% of new arrivals in 2025. (canada.ca) Officials later said the early drop was already visible. In briefing material published in October 2025, the government said Canada had welcomed about 100,000 fewer international students and 137,000 fewer temporary workers than in the same period a year earlier. (canada.ca) The relief is uneven. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation said more affordable units remained in high demand even as overall market conditions softened, and vacancy rates rose most in the largest census metropolitan areas rather than uniformly across the country. (cmhc-schl.gc.ca) Ottawa has not reversed course. The federal immigration department now says the 2026-2028 plan will keep lowering new temporary resident arrivals while stabilizing permanent resident admissions, leaving housing costs to cool gradually rather than snap back. (canada.ca)
