Nova Scotia·NewAmid signs of a slowing rental market, Halifax-based landlord Killam Apartment REIT is expecting higher future turnover of apartments to new tenants will help offset slower rent growth in Atlantic Canada.Atlantic markets continue to ‘outperform,’ Killam executive saysAndrew Lam · CBC News · Posted: Aug 25, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 30 minutes agoKillam Apartment REIT made $34.31 million in net operating income from its Halifax apartments in the first half of the year. (Robert Short/CBC)Amid signs of a slowing rental market, Halifax-based landlord Killam Apartment REIT is expecting increased turnover of apartments to new tenants will help offset slower rent growth in Atlantic Canada.That’s according to CEO Philip Fraser, who discussed the topic during the company’s recent second-quarter earnings call with analysts on Aug. 7.”A lot of the … turnover will be units where we do have a good, healthy mark-to-market,” Fraser said, referring to a financial metric estimating how much higher market rents are compared to Killam’s. In Halifax, for example, the company estimates its rents are on average 22 per cent below market rates — meaning it still has opportunity to raise rents when new tenants move in. Like other landlords, Killam can boost rents to the market rate and attain larger rent increases on turnover. That’s because Nova Scotia’s temporary rent cap only applies to lease renewals.Overall for its more than 18,000 apartments across Canada, Killam expects about 20 per cent to turn over to new tenants this year — up slightly from about 18 per cent in 2024.”People have choice today [of housing], where they didn’t have a year ago, two years ago,” said chief financial officer Dale Noseworthy during the call. Killam’s mark-to-market spread is highest in Halifax, according to the publicly traded company’s earnings call slide show.Killam made $34.31 million in net operating income — revenues made after subtracting the expenses of operating a building — from its Halifax apartments in the first half of the year.That’s up 7.6 per cent compared to the same period last year, according to financial reports. Net operating income is not the same as profit because it excludes expenses like mortgage payments. During the call, Noseworthy said Killam’s apartments in Atlantic Canada continued to “outperform,” with New Brunswick and Nova Scotia leading the way in “occupancy, rental rate growth and NOI growth.”One analyst asked about the rents the company can achieve when “repositioning” apartments. This refers to renovating existing units and then trying to rent them back out at higher rates, according to Toronto Metropolitan University assistant professor Nemoy Lewis.”I think we’re … 40 to 50 per cent rent growth in terms of those repositioning,” Noseworthy said, adding that around 250 apartment units will be repositioned by the end of the year — a small fraction of Killam’s overall portfolio.Apartment renovations are a common financial strategy for large, institutional landlords, said Lewis, who studies housing owned by “financialized” landlords like public pension funds and private equity firms.”These [renovations] are all in turn to try to attract more affluent or higher-income renter households to their properties in order for them to deliver those … returns they’ve promised to their investors and shareholders,” Lewis said.He added that the rent growth Killam said it sees on those units is not unusual. Killam has said it’s a provider of affordable housing. Its latest financial report said “most of the new units expected to enter the market have monthly rents exceeding $2,500 per month, far above Killam’s average.”ABOUT THE AUTHORAndrew Lam (they/she) is a Chinese-Canadian and trans reporter for CBC Nova Scotia. They are interested in 2SLGBTQIA+, labour and data-driven stories. Andrew also has a professional background in data analytics and visualization.
Large landlord expects tenant turnover will offset slower rent growth in Atlantic Canada
