On Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation released its 2025 Rental Market Report showing that vacancy rates throughout the province have increased substantially over the past year.

Greater Vancouver's vacancy rate more than doubled, from 1.6% to 3.7%, the highest in more than 30 years. Greater Victoria's vacancy rate rose to 3.3%, which is the highest seen since 1999. In other B.C. communities, similar trends of vacancy rates increasing were reported, with municipalities with populations of 10,000 or more seeing these rates rise, on average, from 1.9% to 3.5%.

Christine Boyle, Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs, has issued the following statement regarding the report:

“Renters across B.C. need housing that fits their needs and budgets, and we have been focused on delivering that for them.

“Our government got to work cutting red tape and speeding up approvals to get more affordable homes built faster, cracking down on speculators to level the playing field, and turning short-term rentals back into long-term homes so more people can find a place to live. This work is paving the way for thousands of more rental homes that have, and still are, coming online across the province.

“These results show that our housing initiatives are paying off for renters. Vacancy rates in Metro Vancouver and Greater Victoria are the highest they’ve been in decades and rents are going down. In this past month, we have seen that B.C. continues to lead the country in asking-rent declines, down 8.5% in the past two years. This means that, finally, more people are finding homes to live in for less.

“Through our short-term rental rules, thousands of homes have returned to the long-term rental market, an important factor that is helping to drive these promising results and helping to ensure that new units that are built are available as permanent homes and not diverted to the short-term rental market. As we near the one year-anniversary of the full implementation of the short-term rental registry, we are preparing for upcoming renewals beginning in January 2026, and we are looking forward to seeing how progress continues as we enter Year 2 of the registry.

“We still have more good work to do to get to a point where housing is truly affordable for everyone. Renters can’t afford to have the progress that we have achieved together undone. We can’t go backwards to the days of red tape and policies that fuelled speculation, blocked construction and drove housing costs beyond what everyday people could afford, pushing out people who shape and support our communities – people like bus drivers, teachers, health-care workers and construction workers – who shape and support our communities. We will not let up in delivering affordable housing for renters.”

Learn More:

The CMHC 2025 Rental Market Report is available here: https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/professionals/housing-markets-data-and-research/market-reports/rental-market-reports-major-centres