In 2023, New Brunswick’s population surpassed 834,000, which marked the highest population growth rate that our province has experienced since 1976. The influx of people moving to New Brunswick has created a high demand for housing throughout our province. As a result, there is a supply and demand issue in the rental market, resulting in increased rents and low rental vacancy rates.

As part of the NB Housing Strategy: Housing for All , the Housing Development Incentive Program aims to encourage the development of new rental units. Increasing the number of rental units will help reduce pressures on the rental market and decrease costs typically passed on to tenants.

The Housing Development Incentive Program consists of phasing in assessment values on newly constructed apartment buildings with two or more units and existing buildings being refurbished to add more rental units. The assessment value of qualifying property (or portion(s) of qualifying property) will be phased in over three years at 33 per cent in the first year, 66 per cent in the second year and 100 % in year three.

The online application form as well as eligibility criteria can be found here.

This permanent program is available beginning in 2022.

The property must be an existing property, such as a school, that is being refurbished to add more rental units, with construction costs of 20 per cent of the current assessed value, before the renovation begins.

Existing apartment buildings adding more units may also qualify.

Qualifying properties need to meet the following eligibility criteria:

• The property must be non-owner-occupied and include at least two rental units (newly constructed or existing).
• Construction costs for existing buildings being converted into multi-unit buildings or are adding units must equal at least 20 per cent of the property’s assessed value before work begins.
• Vacant multi-unit buildings being restored must have been vacant for at least two years.
• Construction must begin within 12 months of the building permit being issued.

The online application form as well as eligibility criteria can be found here.

Property assessors will monitor the properties in this program. Any change of use to a property will result in the eligibility being reviewed to determine if the property continues to benefit from the phased-in assessment.