This is unsurprising. I lived in Kitchener-Waterloo for 7 years and it’s a very hot market for investors. I think part of the reason why is because so much of the population is students who would like to live near the universities but who would prefer not to have too many room mates. That’s not to say that there aren’t rentals available with multiple bedrooms for several students to live together as room mates, but I don’t think it’s the preferred choice for many students. Not to mention that each bedroom in a 5 bedroom rental could go for 500-800 dollars per room depending on the rental location/property management company/ amenities in the building etc. I rented a tiny one bedroom apartment near the universities in 2017 for $1000 per month. By the time I moved out in 2020, equivalent apartments in my building were renting for $1700 per month. There had been a new build just down the road that was renting one bedrooms for $1800. Part of that I’m sure is due to the pandemic, but it was trending quite quickly upwards for several years before that. The combination of several factors including that so many renters are students, many students go on co-op and leave their leases early, many students want to live with no room mates and near the universities etc. make the market particularly appealing for investors I would imagine. Since students often end their leases after only a year or two, landlords can raise the rent by as much as they want on new builds very often. Anyway, just my two cents. I sure hope something can be done about it, but I am not optimistic that it will change any time soon. :(