Nova Scotia tops Canada for highest average asking rent for fourth straight month
The average asking rent in Nova Scotia reached $2,356 in August, a 3.1 per cent increase from last year as the national average fell.
HALIFAX — Nova Scotia has held the title of Canada's province with the highest average asking rent for apartments and condos for four consecutive months.
Landlords' average ask reached $2,356 in August, according to a monthly analysis from Rentals.ca and Urbanation, marking a year-over-year increase of 3.1 per cent even as the national average dropped 4.8 per cent.
"Nova Scotia rents have risen every year since 1990, but the pace has really stepped up sharply since 2019," said Rentals.ca spokesperson Giacomo Ladas.
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In Halifax, a one-bedroom apartment of just over 500 square feet near Dalhousie University is listed for $1,750 a month, one of the more affordable options currently advertised.
Other comparable spaces hover around $2,000 or higher, a price that would have secured a two-bedroom apartment in the city just five years ago.
Advocates say tenant protections are lacking, with the balance of power tilted toward property owners.
Mark Culligan, a community legal worker at Dalhousie Legal Aid Service, said two intertwined provincial rules create vulnerability: fixed-term leases that do not automatically renew and a five per cent cap on rent increases.
"In Nova Scotia, unlike other provinces, the tenant has no right to renew," said Culligan.
"So once that end date happens, it’s just up to the landlord to determine whether or not they’re going to offer a new lease."
If a landlord rents to a new tenant instead of renewing, they can increase the rent beyond the five per cent cap.
Culligan noted Nova Scotia's cap is already higher than those in British Columbia and Ontario, which are more closely tied to inflation.
"That creates a real easy tool for landlords to turn over units, with a massive financial incentive for landlords to raise rents," he said.
Market dominated by large landlords
A recent Dalhousie Legal Aid report analyzing about 1,400 large rental properties in Halifax found just 20 landlords own 56 per cent of the more than 50,000 units studied.
The "Who Owns Halifax" report revealed a market "increasingly controlled by large corporate, chain and financial landlords," with financial firms alone controlling nearly a quarter of units.
Separate Statistics Canada research from July found Nova Scotia was the lone province among six studied where institutional investors owned the largest share of investment properties in 2022.
Among Nova Scotia rental properties, 38 per cent of their assessed value was owned by institutional investors, according to StatCan economist Joanie Fontaine.
Culligan said these firms profit from concentrated rental demand in Halifax, driven by a large student population and others needing to live near universities, medical centres and military bases.
Supply is also lagging, with Ladas noting rental construction in Halifax takes about 70 per cent longer than the national average due to rising land, permitting and labour costs.
"The cost to build here, I think, is potentially more expensive than it is in the centre of Canada," said Scott Moulton, a Halifax-based real estate agent for Royal LePage Atlantic.
He said the geography of the Halifax peninsula forces builders to construct upward with concrete, a more expensive engineering product.
Ladas said new projects tend to be geared toward more affluent renters and skew toward larger units, not the budget-conscious student demographic.
Existing landlords face rising operating expenses, said Kevin Russell, executive director of Rental Housing Providers Nova Scotia.
He pointed to rising property taxes in Halifax, where owners of larger buildings do not qualify for a cap on assessment increases, and other costs like heating oil, which is up 40 per cent this year.
"Of course, regular financing and repair and maintenance costs, these have all had double-digit increases, so it makes it tough," said Russell, whose group represents owners of more than 50,000 apartment rental units in the province.
Russell said the province's rent increase cap, set to expire at the end of 2027, has also led to a "distorted" market where new renters face higher entry prices.
With files from CKPG Today and CityNews