National Overview

Rents Grow at Slowest pace in Over a Year

Average asking rents decreased 0.8% from May, the largest month-over-month decline since early 2021 during COVID-19 and reversing the typical seasonal trend of increasing rents at this time of year.

Rents were effectively flat over the past three months, increasing by just 0.2% nationally between March and June.

Apartment Rents Decline 1% Month-over-Month with Condo Studios Down 5% Annually

Asking rents for purpose-built and condominium rental apartments decreased by 1.0% month-over-month in June to an average of $2,146. Compared to a year ago, apartment rents were up 9.0%, driven by an 11.0% annual increase in rents for purpose-built rentals to an average of $2,121. Condominium apartment rents increased by a much smaller amount of 2.6% over the past year to an average of $2,320.

While studio rents for condominiums declined 5.1% annually in June to an average of $1,823, purpose-built studio rents grew 14.6% to an average of $1,613. Annual growth for purpose-built rentals was close to or above 10% for all unit types in June. For condominium rentals, annual rent growth increased with larger unit types, reaching 8.0% for three-bedroom units.

Provincial Overview

Year-over-Year Rent Increases in all Provinces but Ontario

Month-over-month decreases in apartment rents during June were limited to two provinces, Ontario and Quebec, while B.C. rents were flat. In Ontario, average asking rents for purpose-built and condominium apartments fell 1.7% between May and June, bringing rents down by 1.3% from a year ago to $2,382— the only province to record an annual rent decline. Despite the 1.0% monthly decrease in Quebec, average asking rents for apartments were up 5.1% annually to $1,979.

Rent growth continued to speed up in Saskatchewan, which led all provinces for the third month in a row with annual growth of 22.1% for purpose-built and condominium apartments. Despite the rapid rate of increase, asking rents in Saskatchewan remained 38% below the national average at $1,339.

Municipal Overview

Toronto Rents Fall to 22-Month Low

Asking rents for apartments in Vancouver ticked up 1.1% month-over-month but were down 7.8% annually in June to an average of $3,042. In Toronto, average purpose-built and condominium rents declined 2.5% monthly and 3.5% annually in June, falling to a 22-month low of $2,715. Apartment rents in Toronto have declined on an annual basis for five straight months, while Vancouver rents have declined annually for seven consecutive months.

Edmonton was the leader for apartment rent growth among Canada’s six largest cities for the sixth month in a row in June, posting an annual increase of 14.3% to reach an average of $1,564. Meanwhile, asking rents in Calgary grew at their slowest annual pace in over two years during June with a 4.2% increase to an average of $2,092. Montreal rents slightly outpaced Calgary with annual growth of 4.3% to $2,013, while Ottawa posted a rent increase of only 1.5% over the past year to reach an average of $2,179.

Affordable Prairie Provinces Lead Rent Increases

Among Canada’s most expensive mid- and small-sized cities for average apartment rents, North Vancouver ($3,285), Burnaby ($2,918), Richmond ($2,836), Coquitlam ($2,809), and Langley ($2,604) ranked highest in B.C., while Richmond Hill ($2,856), Mississauga ($2,681), Etobicoke ($2,614), Vaughan ($2,590), and Markham ($2,562) ranked highest in Ontario.

Lloydminster maintained its lead as Canada’s fastest-rising rental market with annual apartment rent growth of 29.6% in June. Other mid- and small-sized cities in Alberta that ranked among the top 25 for rent growth included Grande Prairie (+24.5%), Lethbridge (+14.7%), Fort McMurray (+9.5%), Medicine Hat (+6.8%), and Red Deer (+4.8%). Other ranked cities in the Prairie Provinces included Regina (+22.1%), Saskatoon (+16.6%), and Winnipeg (+8.8%). Average asking rents for apartments in the fastest-growing cities in the Prairie Provinces ranged between $1,150 in Lloydminster to $1,663 in Winnipeg.

Roommate Rents Trending Down in Toronto

Asking rents for shared accommodations increased 7.5% annually across four provinces with listings during June, reaching an average of $989. However, on a month-over-month basis, average roommate asking rents declined for the fourth straight month, edging down 0.3% from May and declining 2.1% since March.

Roommate rents declined 1.7% monthly and 4.0% annually in Toronto to an average of $1,236 in June. Ottawa roommate rents also lowered over the past year, decreasing 1.0% to an average of $938. All other large cities in Canada recorded annual rent increases for shared accommodations, led by 8.8% growth in Calgary to an average of $916. Vancouver remained the most expensive city for roommate rents with an average cost of $1,471, up 1.2% 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.