Generative and agentic artificial intelligence (AI) has quickly become one of the most discussed topics in business. Much of the public conversation has centred on automation, cost savings and job replacement.

As Canadians, we've collectively agreed on one thing: once summer arrives, we immediately forget winter ever happened. The snowbanks that swallowed parking spaces. The icy sidewalks that transformed simple walks into obstacle courses. The endless cycle of shovelling, salting...

Over the past two years we've seen rising vacancy, affordability pressure, shifting economic conditions and evolving resident expectations. Yet one question remains at the centre of leasing/operational strategies: What do renters value most and how quickly is that changing?

Incentives have become both a reflex and a reality in rental housing. The gap between perception and reality is where a valuable intelligence layer lives. 

PART II: After years of caution and privacy concerns dominating the conversation around the use of artificial intelligence in the built form, we decided to seek hard data from Canadians in our most recent rental housing study.

For years, the conversation around artificial intelligence in the built form has been dominated by caution. Privacy concerns have shaped both public debate and industry assumptions. That might, however, be changing according to data in our most recent study.

Canada’s rental housing market is undergoing meaningful transformation. New projects continue to come online, legacy assets are being modernized and the industry is investing heavily in technology and community-building strategies.

Good design doesn’t just shape buildings - it shapes how people live. Every hallway, every window, every square foot influences how residents experience their home and community. In rental housing, thoughtful design isn’t just nice to have, it’s essential.

Sustainability and accessibility keep coming up in conversations, so we thought this is a good time to share more highlights from the simplyPreference Index released earlier this year. 

What if the secret to higher resident satisfaction, and even better health, was as simple as a muffin and a chat? In our latest deep dive into renter preferences across Canada, simplydbs uncovered surprising truths from over 740,000 data points.

Earlier this year, simplydbs released a series of reports based on renter preferences. From pools to podcasting facilities, we asked about 238 preferences.

Amenities – so many options to choose from! The menu of amenities introduced by housing providers continues to grow each year, with every new offering more extravagant than the last.

Effective communication with tenants is a crucial aspect of a property manager's role. Their work becomes much more impactful when they know which communication channels to use for which specific purpose.

In the 2024 Canadian Multi-Residential Study (CMRS) we asked respondents that indicated they valued amenities to specify which they value and equally we asked those that preferred larger suites what they needed from their space.

As we plan for the 2025 Canadian Multi-Residential Resident Study, our Shape Your Space circular feedback portal and the second annual Student Living Index, we're looking back on key stats from 2024 that we'll be measuring in the coming months.

Mobile applications, or apps, have transformed the way we interact with the world. From social media to shopping, entertainment to business, apps have become part of daily life. It is also changing the rental experience.

Not long ago, when looking for their next rental, prospects used to rely on advertisements in newspapers. Can anyone remember how slow and tedious this process was? Fast forward a few decades and technology is playing an increasingly important role . . .

Insights from the simplydbs 2024 Canadian Multi-Residential Satisfaction Study (CMRS) offer interesting perspectives from over 24,000 respondents nationwide on development issues including suite sizes, the need for balconies, building amenities, parking preferences and much more.

As young people make their way to colleges and universities across the country, the housing shortage is more evident than ever. There are wait lists for residences, high rents on and off campus, and anxiety among both students and parents.

Canada isn't alone in its struggle to provide housing. Around the world countries are grappling with housing shortages. As Canada looks to solve its own shortage, it’s valuable to explore different ways this challenge is being tackled by other countries.

In 2020, the pandemic caused a global disruption of processes and new ones had to be implemented practically overnight. Digital technologies once adopted to reduce in-person interactions, however, have today become essential tools for building managers and their tenants.