Source: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), Starts and Completions Survey, December 2023; CMHC Rental Market Survey, October 2023; CMHC, adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Canada and National Household Survey), 2021. This information is reproduced and distributed on an “as is” basis with the permission of CMHC.

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This article delves into Peterborough’s housing market, focusing on the dynamics of constructions, vacancy rates, and median market rents for apartment types like Bachelor, 1, 2, and 3+ Bedroom. Utilizing data from the CMHC Rental Market Survey and Statistics Canada, it illustrates year-over-year changes and trends. Let’s jump into the insights:

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New Housing Construction

• Apartments have a longer average construction time compared to other types. The average length of construction for apartments over the last decade has not followed a fixed pattern, although it has recently stabilized at nearly 15 months.
• For other categories such as single, semi-detached, and row houses, the average construction time has been on an increasing trend, reaching 12 months on average by 2023.
• 71% of new construction starts in Peterborough are single-family houses. The number of new apartments and row houses started in 2023 has increased compared to 2022, while starts for semi-detached houses have decreased.
• The completion of new constructions does not follow a consistent pattern. In 2022, the completion rate for all types of housing dropped, but generally, there is no clear trend. As expected, most of the newly completed constructions are single-family houses.

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Primary Rental Market

• The vacancy rate for bachelor apartments has been on a constant decline since 2021, reaching 0% this year.
• The vacancy rate for two-bedroom units has been decreasing, while the rates for one-bedroom and larger units have increased. Overall, vacancy rates are at one of the lowest points in the last decade, levels not seen since 2016-17 and 2021.
• The median market rent for all types of housing has been on an increasing trend over the last decade. However, in 2022, rents for three-bedroom units saw a 3.5% decrease compared to the previous year.

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Population and Households

• A survey of around 53,370 buildings in 2021 shows that:
• Single-detached homes, constituting 70% of the market, are the most common, while row housing, at just 1.5%, is the least common.
• 37% of households earn more than 100K CAD before tax per year, while 4.5% earn less than 20K CAD.
• Approximately 66% of households consist of one or two persons, and 7.3% are households with five or more persons.

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