Statistics Canada and housing site Rentals.ca are teaming up to create a new rental housing market index.

Rentals.ca announced the data sharing partnership with the federal agency on Thursday.

In a press release, the site said the soon-to-be-released Rental Market Industry Index will track trends in the rental housing industry across Canada with a goal of helping landlords and tenants make “informed decisions.”

Rentals.ca will provide StatCan with rental listing data, while the agency will be “directly responsible for the analysis, aggregation, and development” of the index, the release said.

The index is also intended to help policymakers at all levels of government better understand how to address the housing needs of Canadians, Rentals.ca said.

“Through this new partnership, we’re able to get data into the hands of institutions,” Max Steinman, CEO of Rentals.ca’s parent company Rentsync, said in the release.

Steinman said the index will allow “policymakers, developers, and the Canadian public as a whole to make more informed decisions to help tackle the rental housing supply crisis.”

RENTS AT RECORD HIGHS

Rentals.ca, in partnership with research firm Urbanation, publishes a monthly rent report that examines average asking rent prices across Canada and how they’ve changed over time.

Their latest report found that asking rents for all residential property types in Canada averaged $2,174 in November, slightly below the record high of $2,178 set in October.

Rentals.ca said their new partnership with Statistics Canada represents a “significant step towards enhancing transparency and understanding” in Canada’s rental housing market.