CMHC released its first-quarter results on May 29. The headline most outlets will run with is the national arrears rate, which ticked up slightly to 0.33% and remains below the long-run average. The more interesting numbers sit a few lines further down.
The numbers worth reading
Multi-unit residential insurance activity at CMHC was up 30% year-over-year in Q1 2026. That is 71,733 units insured against 55,383 in Q1 2025. Federal housing program funding rose 10% to $2.9 billion. New securities guaranteed through the Canada Mortgage Bond program climbed from $54 billion to $63 billion. Single-family resale was soft over the same window, with average MLS prices down 1% year-over-year and sales down 8%.
The divergence is the story. Canadian institutional capital is moving harder into purpose-built rental and multi-residential construction than it has in years. The single-family resale segment is taking the brunt of the slowdown.
“Operators already running quality multi-residential have a long runway behind them. The CMHC numbers this week put a real figure on it.”
Colin Ernst, Co-FounderWhere we are positioned
The Coast to Coast portfolio operates in the multi-residential lane by design. Our Deep River apartment building, our Truro Longview builds, and our Victoria projects all sit in the category CMHC is actively pushing money into. That is not a coincidence. It reflects a thesis we have been executing against for several years: purpose-built rental in secondary markets, close to demand drivers, with the operational infrastructure to hold and manage for the long term.
When the data confirms the thesis, the right move is to keep executing it.
What the single-family softness means
A 1% price decline and an 8% sales drop in single-family resale does not signal a crash. It signals that the speculative layer has come off and the market is returning to fundamentals. For operators running rental portfolios, a softer resale market generally means better tenant retention. People who cannot afford to buy stay in rental longer, and good tenants stay where they are well looked after.
We have been watching this dynamic play out in our own buildings. Vacancy rates are low. Waitlists are active. The operational work of keeping good tenants matters more than ever, and it is where we spend most of our attention.
Source: CMHC Releases Results for First Quarter 2026 — CMHC, May 29, 2026