| Metro Vancouver Releases Updated Housing Data Resource | Metro Vancouver Releases Updated Housing Data Resource | | <div class="ExternalClass99F3FFC1E0374488B1507B08867723F6"><p><a href="/services/regional-planning/housing-data-book">Metro Vancouver’s Housing Data Book</a> has been updated for 2023 and is available to policymakers, researchers, media, and the public for free. It consolidates a large amount of regional and municipal data in one place, providing a comprehensive overview of the region’s housing market and those affected by it.<br></p><p>“With this important resource, we aim to offer high-quality data that will help decision-makers set policy and deliver meaningful actions, empowering them to affect real change,” said Metro Vancouver Board Chair George V. Harvie. “The latest data also shows how much work still needs to be done to reach our common goal of a more robust, diverse, and affordable housing market.”</p><p>Highlights from the new edition include:</p><ul><li>Rental vacancy rates remained well below healthy levels (three per cent or greater) in 2022, pushing rents even higher. Rents increased by about eight per cent for purpose-built rentals ($1,675 average rent) and six per cent for rental condos ($2,259 average rent).</li><li>The total number of BC Housing non-market units increased by one per cent between 2022 and 2023, to a total of 46,512 units. This represents four per cent of all homes across the region.</li><li>The number of rental condos and purpose-built rentals has increased in recent years, however family-sized rental units (two or more bedrooms) continue to be scarce.</li><li>Regional housing construction has increased in recent years, but is still not keeping pace with demand. Most completions were for condo ownership (59 per cent) and multi-unit housing, primarily apartments.<br></li><li>In 2023, 18,865 households were on BC Housing’s social housing waitlist — a 27 per cent increase from the previous year, with seniors and families in the greatest need.</li></ul><p>The data book contains information from a variety of sources, such as Statistics Canada, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, BC Housing, the Co-operative Housing Federation of BC, the BC Non-Profit Housing Association, local real estate associations, and member jurisdictions, as well as the 2021 Census.</p><p>Metro Vancouver has published the Housing Data Book since 2009. It is periodically updated as new data becomes available.</p><p>Find key data and insights in the updated <a href="/services/regional-planning/housing-data-book">Metro Vancouver Housing Data Book</a>.<br></p></div> | 12/22/2023 8:00:00 AM | | Metro Vancouver Media Relations | media@metrovancouver.org | | |