CMHC published its 2026 Northern Housing Report on July 29, based largely on 2025 housing-market data. It says modest rental-stock growth in Iqaluit did not ease the shortage: overcrowding-related need kept demand ahead of available homes. CMHC reports that nearly one in two Iqaluit households could not afford private-market rent in 2025.

The figures show that additional housing activity has not yet produced enough available homes to relieve acute rental scarcity. CMHC says public housing administered by Nunavut Housing Corporation made up about one fifth of Iqaluit’s rental stock; it recorded 36 vacant public-housing units and a waitlist above 400 households as of February 2025. The report also says almost half of Nunavut Housing Corporation households were underaccommodated as of January 2025.

CMHC says elevated units under construction and strong 2025 permit activity point to market-supply growth in Iqaluit in 2026. That is an outlook, not confirmation that units have been completed or that vacancy will improve. The report identifies high construction costs, limited serviced land, logistics and labour constraints as continuing barriers to building more homes.

The report does not announce funding, a housing approval, a land decision or a construction award. It reports conditions measured in 2025. CMHC notes that its construction-cost comparison excludes Iqaluit because comparable cost indices do not cover the city. In Nunavut, social housing accounted for 93% of new residential-construction investment in 2025, according to CMHC.