Nanaimo housing market
Key indicators
Dwelling units permitted (last 12 months)
1,000units
+78.9% vs prior 12 months
Sep 2026 · Statistics Canada
Average rent, 2-bedroom
$1,895
+6.8% vs prior year
October 2025 survey · CMHC
Purpose-built rentals (row and apartment, 3+ units); annual October survey.
Asking rent, 2-bedroom apartment
$2,080
+2.5% vs 12 months earlier
Apr 1, 2026 · Statistics Canada
Experimental estimate from new listings; not what sitting tenants pay.
Population
129,750persons
+1.1% vs one year earlier
July 1, 2025 · Statistics Canada
Analysis
Nanaimo housing market analysis
Population and housing need
Nanaimo's population was estimated at 129,750 (July 1, 2025), growing 1.1% over the year.
Rental market
The average two-bedroom rent across all purpose-built units was $1,895 a month, up 6.8% year over year.
Advertised two-bedroom rents averaged $2,080, up 2.5% year over year.
Borrowing costs
Borrowers who took out a new uninsured mortgage in Aug 2026 paid an average of 4.58% on fixed terms of five years or more and 3.90% on variable rates, according to the Bank of Canada. The five-year-plus fixed average is up 0.3 percentage points from a year earlier.
Variable rates sit 0.68 points below long fixed terms, so borrowers are paying a premium for payment certainty.
The Bank of Canada's policy rate is 2.50% and the banks' prime rate is 4.70%. Variable-rate mortgages are priced off prime, so they move when the policy rate changes; fixed rates follow Government of Canada bond yields, with the 5-year yield at 3.46%.
Written from the latest official figures and refreshed whenever new data are released. It describes current conditions; it is not a forecast.
Trends
2021-10 to 2026-09. Latest: 62 (Sep 2026).
2006 to 2025. Latest: 1,895 (October 2025 survey).