National Overview

Rents Saw Fastest Month-Over-Month Increase in 2024

Average asking rents grew by 0.8% from June, which represents a reversal of the previous month’s decline of 0.8%. As we approach the end of the summer season, this increase is a return to average market rents hovering just above $2,200.

Rents were effectively flat over the past three months, decreasing by just $1 at the national level from May to July.

Apartment Rents Continue to Grow Annually, Though Remain More Affordable than Condos

Asking rents for purpose-built and condominium rental apartments increased by 0.5% month-over-month in July to an average of $2,156. Compared to a year ago, apartment rents grew by 7.4%, driven primarily by the annual increase of purpose-built rentals which were up 8.9% year-over-year to an average of $2,131 increasing by $10 from June. Condominium units increased by a much smaller percentage of 1.9% to an average of $2,334, representing a $14 increase in average rents from June.

While studio rents for condominiums declined 2.8% annually in July to an average of $1,887, purpose-built rental studios remained more affordable, while also growing 13.7% to an average $1,610. Average rents for purpose-built rentals were highest for studio units at 13.7%, with three-bedroom units coming in a close second at 12.1%, followed by two-bedroom units at 9.1%, and one-bedroom units at 7.2% annually. Regardless of the large annual increases, purpose-built rental apartments maintain average rents that are $203 lower than condo units.

Provincial Overview

Year-over-Year Rent Increases in all Provinces but Ontario & British Columbia.

Saskatchewan maintains its lead as the fastest growing province annually, inching up from previous months with annual growth at 22.2% for purpose-built and condominium apartments. Despite the acceleration of annual growth, month-over-month rents have declined to $1,331, down $8 from June and remaining 38% below the national average of $2,156.

Month-over-month declines to apartment rents in July were present in Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, and Saskatchewan. While British Columbia and Ontario were the only two provinces with annual declining rents, with BC down 2% to an average of $2,570, and Ontario down 1.5% to an average of $2,396.

Municipal Overview

Major Markets Show Growing Rents

Asking rents for apartments in Vancouver continued to trend upwards for the third straight month, up 1.9% month-over-month, but remained down 7.2% annually in July with an average of $3,101. In Toronto, average purpose-built and condominium rents increased 0.2% monthly, but remained down 4.6% annually in July with an average of $2,719. July saw growth in average rents for five out of six of Canada’s largest markets, with an average monthly change of 0.9%. Montreal has seen rents decline for three consecutive months, with July declining 0.5% to an average rent of $2,003.

Edmonton maintains its lead with the highest recorded annual rent growth amongst Canada’s largest markets with an increase of 14.3% and a total average rent of $1,579. Calgary rents climbed 3.7% to an average of $2,111, though Calgary continues to show slowing annual rent growth with this being the lowest recorded annual pace in over two years. Ottawa showed the second highest annual pace of rent growth this month at 4.1%, which is the highest annual growth recorded over the past 4 months to an average rent of $2,218. Montreal rents showed marginal growth up only 0.8% annually.

Prairies Led in Both Affordability and Rent Growth

Among Canada’s most expensive mid- and small sized cities for average apartment rents, North Vancouver ($3,124), Burnaby ($2,960), Coquitlam ($2,790), and Langley ($2,579) ranked highest in B.C., while Mississauga ($2,646), Etobicoke ($2,614), Vaughan ($2,579), Oakville ($2,568) and Burlington ($2,557) ranked highest in Ontario.

Lloydminster maintained its lead as Canada’s fastest-rising rental market with annual apartment rent growth of 28.3% in July. The five fastest-rising rental markets are split between Alberta and Quebec, with Pointe-Claire (+25.6%), Grand Prairie (+24.1%), Quebec City (+20.7%), and Lethbridge (+19.7%) following Lloydminster. Notably, Regina (+19.3%), and Saskatoon (+18.7%) take on the number 6 and 7 spots in the top 25. Winnipeg (+11.8%) is the lowest ranked prairie market. Average asking rents for cities in the Prairie provinces ranked between $1,164 in Lloydminster and $1,646 in Winnipeg.

Roommate Rents Trend Down in Toronto & Montreal

Asking rents for shared accommodations increased 9.1% annually across the four recorded provinces, with listings in July reaching an average of $1,005. This represents the highest average rent of the previous five months. Within our data, three of the recorded provinces experienced their highest achieved average rents including Alberta, British Columbia, and Quebec, all of which recorded record highs in July. Ontario experienced peak rents for shared accommodations in December 2023, with rents remaining 1.2% below rates experienced during the peak.

Roommate rents declined 0.3% monthly, and 4.9% annually in Toronto to an average of $1,232 in July. Ottawa roommate rents increased 0.3% monthly and declined 1.2% annually to an average of $941. All other large cities recorded annual rent increases for shared accommodations, led by Calgary with 8.9% growth with an average of $923. Vancouver maintained its position as the most expensive city for roommate rents with an average cost of $1,476, up 1.4% annually.

You can check out the previous rent reports here

Rentals.ca Data

The data used in this analysis is based on monthly listings from the Rentals.ca Network of Internet Listings Services (ILS). This data differs from the numbers collected and published by the Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation (CMHC).

The Rentals.ca Network of ILS’s data covers both the primary and secondary rental markets and includes basement apartments, rental apartments, condominium apartments, townhouses, semi-detached houses, and single-detached houses. CMHC’s primary rental data only includes purpose-built rental apartments and rental townhouses. CMHC also collects data on secondary market rentals, but this is reported separately.

CMHC’s rental rates are based on the entire universe of purpose-built rental units (rental stock), regardless of rental tenure. CMHC rental rates are reflective of what the average household spends on rental housing and not the current market rents for vacant units. The data used in this report is based on the asking rates of available (vacant) units only and reflect on-going trends in the market. This covers a smaller sample size but is more representative of the actual market rent a prospective tenant would encounter. The Rentals.ca Network of ILS’s data typically provides much higher rental rates compared to CMHC, as vacant units typically reset to market rates when not subject to rent control.

The average and median rental rates in this report can also skew higher than CMHC’s data for the following reasons: the inclusion of larger more expensive unit types such as single-family homes, townhouse units, and large luxury condominium units; the presence of duplicate or multiple listings at the same property and the survivorship bias where more expensive or over-priced units take longer to lease and remain in the sample longer.

Properties listed for greater than $5,000 per month, and less than $500 per month are removed from the sample. Similarly, short-term rentals, single-room rentals, and furnished suites are removed from the sample when identifiable.