We’ve recently been reviewing the performance of our co-op housing portfolio over the years since CMHC entrusted us with its oversight in 2006. Here are a few fast facts we’d like to share with you.
Overall, our clients are continuing to do well, and we’d like to think our data-driven, risk-based and client-focused approach may be partly responsible.
In the Agency’s first year of operation, more than 60 per cent of our clients were at high or above-average risk—meaning they were at risk of falling into difficulty. Now, we can rate almost half (48%) as low or moderate risk. While co-ops have not quite recovered from the stressful years of COVID-19, 87 per cent have a stable or strengthening risk outlook.
Overall, clients are losing less money to arrears, bad debts and vacancies. An exception is the co-ops in Alberta, where arrears and bad debts continue to rise. On the bright side, these are falling in Ontario and B.C.
For years, the Agency has been reporting that co-ops with directors in debt to their co-op average higher total arrears than co-ops whose directors pay on time. It’s clear that our clients have got the message. From 2007 to 2022, the money owed to Agency clients by their directors has fallen by a staggering 91 per cent (from $464,439 in 2007 to $42,351 in 2022).
Despite the housing crisis, vacancy losses in 2022 were higher than in 2020. Maybe co-ops are needing to refresh units at turn-over, especially after they’ve been occupied for a long time. Having the opportunity to do this could be a good thing, even at the cost of some vacancy loss—but not too much.
These facts are drawn from our clients’ web-filed Annual Information Returns, combined in many ways to build up a national picture of co-op performance.
If you’d like the full story of Agency clients’ achievements in 2022, we invite you to read our 2022 Biannual Portfolio Performance Review on our website, or download it for sharing.