One reason rents are increasing at higher rates recently is that the number of renters in Hamilton has increased to 68,545 households in 2016. This figure is higher than any census year since 1991, an increase of over 8,000 households since a low of just under 62,000 renter households in 2006 (chart 1). Hamilton’s annual growth of renters between 2006 and 2016 has been almost double the average annual population growth in this period (1.1% growth per year in renters, compared to 0.6% annual population growth in this period).
