A new housing study has highlighted a nationwide pattern with implications for Victoria’s housing market.
The study points to a growing trend in B.C., where single-family renter (SFR) households are increasing significantly faster than those in apartments. An SFR household is a household that rents an entire single-family home.
However, according to Point2Homes, it’s not families driving the increase but solo renters – who would typically be expected to rent smaller units such as studios, one-bedroom apartments or homes converted into multiple suites.
Point2Homes, an online resource for renters that frequently publishes market research, produced the study using Canadian census data.
“While multifamily rentals remain the dominant housing option, several B.C. cities have seen notable growth in house renting between the 2016 and 2021 census years,” said Noemi Konta, a communications strategist for Point2Homes.
The provincewide trend is especially apparent in Victoria.
“One of the most notable trends is the growth in solo renters living in SFRs, which increased by nearly 12 per cent, compared to a 6.2 per cent increase among solo apartment renters,” said Konta.
“While the total number of apartment renters remains higher than that of SFR renters, this trend aligns with what we’re seeing nationally.”
Meanwhile, the growth rate of non-solo single-family renters remained stagnant, with just a 0.7 per cent increase. This points to a trend of more renters seeking houses rather than apartments in B.C., across Canada and here in Victoria.
“Priced out of homeownership, more renters seek space, flexibility and home-like comfort without buying,” reads the study from Point2Homes.
“Tightening mortgage costs, rising interest rates and shifting lifestyle preferences have propelled the number of renter households to grow at twice the pace of homeowner households between the 2016 and 2021 census reports.”
While Point2Homes explained that apartments “remain the backbone of the nation’s rental supply,” single-family rentals are becoming more popular, as many Canadians begin to rent houses solo rather than buy them.
Between 2016 and 2021, Canada added half a million renter households – now totalling nearly five million – with the share of renter households surpassing 33 per cent, a record high.
The trend was notable in other B.C. cities as well. In Coquitlam, SFR households surged by 75 per cent, while solo apartment renting increased just 11 per cent. Kamloops and Kelowna each saw a 50 per cent increase in solo SFR households. In Vancouver, SFRs rose 42.1 per cent, compared to just a 7.7 per cent increase in apartments.
In their study, Point2Homes cites Dr. Nathanael Lauster, an associate professor of sociology at the University of British Columbia.
“The historical trend in Canada has been that people want to form independent households. But when housing is scarce and expensive, they adapt by living in ways they wouldn’t otherwise choose,” said Lauster.
The implication, again, is that house renting is gaining ground in apartment-centric cities such as Vancouver, while also holding true – albeit on a smaller scale – in more housing-centric markets like Victoria.
This may be due to the prevalence of one-person households and child-free couples throughout Canada, particularly concentrated in cities, who may be looking beyond apartment living.
“With housing prices still sky-high and homeownership increasingly out of reach for many Canadians, renting a house has emerged as a practical and appealing alternative – not just a fallback, but a deliberate long-term choice,” reads the Point2Homes study.
For more information on Point2Homes’ nationwide analysis, the study is available at Point2Homes.com.
