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Real estate trusts are sending rents soaring and reshaping Canada’s cities
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Corporate landlords have expanded their footprint dramatically over the years, particularly during the pandemic. They spent billions acquiring older apartment buildings in lower‐income neighbourhoods, upgraded and renovated vacated apartments, then “repositioned” the properties for new tenants at much higher rates.

These tactics help drive gentrification, making the overall community even less affordable for long‐time residents, many of whom are low‐ or fixed‐income tenants, like seniors. The surge in rent also impacts the broader rental market, because in provinces with weak or no rent control, it encourages individual private landlords to raise prices. Overall average asking rent in Canada has jumped some 20 percent, or the equivalent of roughly $450 a month, since September 2021, according to a recent Rentals.ca report.

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Carmine Starnino
Editor‐in‐Chief, The Walrus

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