New Brunswick's Progress
The Housing Continuum
The term "housing continuum" is used to indicate the wide range of housing options available to assist a variety of households in various tenures to access affordable and acceptable housing (CMHC). The CMHC considers housing to be affordable when it costs less than 30% of a household's before-tax income. The term "affordable housing" encompasses a considerably wider range of housing options, including rental, ownership, and cooperative housing, along with permanent housing, it also consists of temporary housing, as well as housing that is supplied by the public, private, and nonprofit sectors (CMHC). Therefore, "affordable housing" can refer to any stage of the housing continuum, including emergency shelters, transitional housing, supportive housing, social/community housing (subsidized housing), market rental housing, and market homeownership (Homeless Hub). Although all social housing is considered to be affordable, social housing explicitly refers to housing that is subsidized by a level of government (Homeless Hub).
2022-2025
New Brunswick Action Plan
​According to the 2022–2025 New Brunswick Action Plan, between April 2019 and March 2022, New Brunswick has invested just over $41M in various initiatives such as creating 151 new affordable housing units, repairing and renovating just over 11,000 social housing units and 27 Urban Native Housing units, funding for rent supplement programs and rental affordability support for just over 1,000 families.
Source: Statistics Canada
New Housing Price Index
The New Housing Price Index (NHPI) tracks changes in new home selling prices. The index's base period is December 2016 with a value of 100 (201612=100). Compared to a country-wide increase of 21.9% since January of 2018, property prices in New Brunswick have climbed by 18.3%.
MLS Residential Average Sale Price in New Brunswick
​A Multiple Listing Service is a database created by real estate agents with reliable information surrounding properties for sale. The MLS Residential average sale price is calculated by dividing the total value of all residential properties sold by the overall number of residential units sold. As of 2022, the MLS residential average sale price in New Brunswick is $289,576. The average residential selling price in New Brunswick has been rising steadily since 2017, with the highest increases occurring between 2020 and 2022. Overall, there has been a 77.2% increase in the MLS residential average sale price in New Brunswick over 5 years.
*Average sale price was used as a median sale price dataset could not be found.
Average Rent Prices in New Brunswick (3 bedroom apartment + for October)
As of October 2022, average rent price for a 3-bedroom apartment in New Brunswick is $1,157. Since 2017, each year the price of rent in New Brunswick has continuously increased, starting from $892 in 2017 and increasing to $1,157 in 2022. This is a 29.7% increase over 5 years.
*Average rent price was used as a median rent price dataset could not be found.
Median Income in New Brunswick
(individuals 16 years and older)
As of 2021, median income in New Brunswick for individuals 16 years and older is $38,9000 annually. This graph shows that there has been a 9% increase over 4 years (from 2017-2021). Using an annual income of $38,900 we calculated that affordable rent in New Brunswick would be considered as $872/month. As mentioned above, as of 2021, average rent is $1,074/month, this would mean that a 18% decrease in rent prices is required for rent in New Brunswick to be considered affordable.
Source: Statistics Canada
Source: Statistics Canada
Investment in Residential Building Construction in New Brunswick
Since 2018, New Brunswick has increased their amount of investment in residential building construction each year, starting from $1,550,119,427 in 2018 and increasing to $2,736,151,414 in 2022. This is an increase of 76.5% over 4 years.
Core Housing Need of Renters in Social and Affordable Housing in New Brunswick
Core housing need is defined as individuals living in unsuitable, inadequate, or unaffordable dwellings (Statistics Canada). As of 2021, there are 17.6% of renters in social and affordable housing in New Brunswick experiencing core housing need.
Source: Statistics Canada
Source: Statistics Canada
Waitist Status for Social and Affordable Housing in
New Brunswick
As of 2021, there are 9100 individuals on a waiting list for social and affordable housing in New Brunswick, which is a decrease of 15.4% from 2018. Majority of individuals (66%) have been on a waiting list for two or more years, compared to 3100 individuals who have been on a waiting list for less than two years.
Affordable Rental Units
(under $750/month) in New Brunswick
As mentioned, the CMHC considers housing to be affordable when it costs less than 30% of a household's before-tax income. Using an annual income of less than $30,000, rentals under $750 are considered affordable. According to the Housing, Mobilization, and Engagement Research Lab, as of 2021, 62% of renter households in New Brunswick with annual incomes of less than $30,000 pay unaffordable rent. From 2011 to 2021, there has been a 36.3% decrease in affordable rental units in New Brunswick, with 60% of this loss occurring between 2016-2021. According to the Housing, Mobilization, and Engagement Research Lab, it will cost between $3.6-$4.4 billion dollars to replace all of the affordable rental units that have been lost since 2011.
