If you want to rent an apartment in Windsor this year, it will cost you more – if you can find one at all.
According to a new report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), rental prices will increase by 4.5 percent for a one-bedroom apartment and 6.5 percent for a two-bedroom apartment in 2023.
The company attributes this to low rental supply and high demand, with the vacancy rate in Windsor at just two percent. In 2023, Windsor will add 310 units to the region’s rental stock.
Anthony Passarelli is CMHC’s senior economist for Southern Ontario. He says Windsor’s rental vacancy rate is two per cent, near the city’s record low.
In his opinion, three factors are responsible for the low vacancy rate: the influx of new arrivals, students and student dormitories, and high property prices.
“The data we released today reinforces our view that there is a lack of supply, particularly of rental housing, that is really undermining affordability,” Passarelli said.
“Rents are therefore rising very sharply,”
And, the report says, new renters will pay more than those already in their apartment: The average rent for an already rented apartment was just over $1,000. However, a vacant apartment will rent for an average of $100 more per month.
This leads to a lack of mobility on the market, says Passarelli: tenants do not want to or cannot move because they would now be forced to pay the higher rent.
“They are facing strong competition,” said Passarelli. “This has many negative effects on the rental market, because if people don’t move, cheaper apartments in particular won’t be available.”
The average rent for a two-bedroom apartment was $1,235 in 2023, an increase of more than six percent from 2022.
City council describes shortages and prices as a “perfect storm”
Fabio Costante, city councillor for the second district, calls the housing shortage in Windsor a “perfect storm”.
“The influx of international students through immigration, but also people from the GTA and other parts of the province and the country moving to Windsor,” he said.
“We are a growing city and are currently going through an unprecedented period of growth… which is putting significant pressure on our housing market.”
Costante said housing pressures were putting renters in a “precarious” position, with some moving into overcrowded apartments to keep their rent affordable.
“It’s been increasing over the years, there’s no doubt about that. And this research and this data confirms many of the concerns we’ve been raising for years,” he said.
Costante says the solution lies in more housing. He wants post-secondary educational institutions to invest more in housing for students, while the higher levels of government also invest in housing.
A photo of Windsor City Hall in a 2023 archive photo (Chris Ensing/CBC)
On Wednesday, the federal Housing Department notified the city that its request for up to $70 million from the federal Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) had been denied, largely because of the city’s refusal to commit to issuing building permits for four residential units on every lot in the city.
Nationally, the average rental vacancy rate is 1.5 percent, the lowest rate since CMHC began collecting data in 1988. That number is down from 1.9 percent in 2022.
