Cash and other rental incentives dwindle in a highly competitive Canadian housing market
Real estate analysts say incentives meant to woo renters to expensive homes have become less common in recent months and that the trend is a symptom of heavily competitive housing markets in cities such as Toronto and Vancouver
Those deals are drying up as the rental landscape becomes competitive because of rising interest rates that are pushing would-be homeowners to the rental market, and as some people return to cities now that the worst of the pandemic is over
Incentives used to be common in expensive condo units in neighbourhoods such as Toronto’s CityPlace. These days incentives are more common in older units that might be in less desirable locations
In Winnipeg and Edmonton there are ample rental incentives, such as multiple months of free rent or free cable subscriptions - these locations still have largely uncompetitive rental markets when compared with other Canadian cities