Average asking rents for all residential property types in Canada hit an all-time high of $2,202 in May, surpassing the $2,200 level for the first time.
National Overview
Asking Rents in Canada Surpass $2,200 to Reach Record High
Asking rents rose 9.3% annually in May, maintaining the same annual growth rate as April and consistent with average annual growth of 9.1% during the past three years. Incorporating rent declines experienced during 2020 and 2021, the latest five-year average annual growth for asking rents was 4.7%.
May rents increased 0.6% month-over-month, which was consistent with monthly growth experienced in May of last year. This brought the latest three-month change in average asking rents back into positive territory with a gain of 0.4%.
Purpose-built Rents Grew Four Times Faster than Condo Rents
Asking rents for purpose-built and condominium rental apartments increased 10.6% annually in May, accelerating from a 9.3% annual pace in April to reach an average of $2,143. Rents for purpose-built rental apartments increased 13.7% from a year ago, which was four times faster than the annual growth in condo rents of 3.4%. Condo rents declined 0.8% month-over-month to an average of $2,312, while purpose-built rent rents rose 1.0% on a monthly basis to an average of $2,146.
Condo studios were the only housing type to record an annual decline in asking rents during May, decreasing 0.7% to an average of $1,856. Meanwhile, purpose-built studios, which were priced comparatively lower at an average of $1,615, experienced the fastest annual growth of 17.8% in May.
Provincial Overview
Apartment Rents Rise in all Provinces
All provinces recorded annual increases in apartment rents for purpose-built and condo rentals in May as Ontario inched out a 0.6% gain after recording a 0.7% annual decrease in April, with rents reaching an average of $2,423. Apartment rent growth in B.C. improved from a 1.6% annual pace in April to a 2.3% annual pace in May, with rents averaging the highest of all provinces at $2,526. Both Ontario and B.C. recorded month-over-month rent increases in May of 0.7% and 0.8%, respectively.
Quebec was the only province to record a month-over-month decline in apartment rents during May, dipping 0.6% from April to an average of $1,999. However, asking rents in Quebec were still up 6.7% from last year.
Rents in three provinces continued to drive the majority of annual rent inflation for apartments in Canada — Nova Scotia (+17.1% to $2,238), Alberta (+17.5% to $1,787), and Saskatchewan (+21.4% to $1,334). All three provinces saw rents rise by at least 2% on a month-over-month basis.
Provincially, annual rent declines for apartments in Canada during May were limited to three-bedroom units in B.C., which decreased 3.2% to an average of $3,242, and one-bedroom units in Ontario, which edged down 0.3% to an average of $2,196. In both Alberta and Saskatchewan, three-bedroom apartment rents grew fastest over the past year, rising 21.3% in Alberta to an average of $2,138 and 24.2% in Saskatchewan to an average of $1,707.
Municipal Overview
Rent Declines Slow in Vancouver and Toronto
Asking rents for apartments in Vancouver and Toronto continued to decline on an annual basis in May, but by a lesser amount than in April. Toronto apartment rents decreased 0.9% year-over-year in May (compared to a 2.3% annual decline in April) to an average of $2,784, while Vancouver rents were down 4.1% from a year ago (compared to a 7.8% annual decline in April) to an average of $3,008. Asking rents in both cities increased to three-month highs, although Toronto rents remained 4.4% lower than their high in November 2023 and Vancouver rents remained 9.9% lower than their high in July 2023.
Edmonton continued to pull away as the leader in rent growth among Canada’s largest cities, posting a 14.6% annual increase in asking rents for apartments. Despite increasing by nearly twice the amount in Calgary (+7.6%) over the past year, Edmonton average asking rents for apartments remained significantly less expensive ($1,507 vs. $2,089).
Annual rent declines in Vancouver were largest for one-bedroom apartments (-5.8% to $2,684) and three-bedroom apartments (-8.3% to $3,828). Annual rent declines in Toronto were also concentrated in one-bedroom apartment (-2.2% to $2,493) and three-bedroom apartments (-1.0% to $3,720). Three-bedroom apartment rents increased the most over the past year in Ottawa (+5.8% to $2,726), Calgary (+8.1% to $2,712), Montreal (+7.9% to $$2,745), and Edmonton (+19.9% to $1,979).
Lloydminster is Canada’s Fastest Rising Rental Market
Four of the top five most expensive small- and mid-sized cities in Canada for average apartment asking rents in May were located in B.C., including North Vancouver ($3,293), Burnaby ($2,930), Richmond ($2,862), and Coquitlam ($2,743). The remainder of the top 10 by highest average apartment asking rents were located in Ontario: Richmond Hill ($2,890), Oakville ($2,648), Etobicoke ($2,614), and Mississauga ($2,610). Twelve of the top 25 cities by highest average asking rents for apartments in May were located in the GTA. Outside of the GTA in Ontario, cities that made the top 25 included Kanata ($2,564), Guelph ($2,272), and Waterloo ($2,271). Two cities in Quebec also made the list: Cote-Saint-Luc ($2,521) and Mount Royal ($2,375).
Lloydminster maintained its lead as the city with the fastest rising rents in Canada, with asking rents for apartments up 29.3% from a year ago to an average of $1,150, which was still 46% below the national average.
Roommate Rents Dip in Toronto and Ottawa
Asking rents for shared accommodations increased 8.4% annually in May across four provinces with listings during May, reaching an average of $992. Average roommate rents remained highest in B.C. ($1,191) and Ontario ($1,069), with Alberta experiencing the largest increase in rents over the past year for shared accommodations (+9.6% to $883).
Roommate rents declined slightly compared to a year ago in Toronto (-3.2% to $1,257) and Ottawa (-1.2% to $936). Calgary had the strongest annual growth in roommate rents in May (+8.5% to $915). Vancouver maintained the highest average asking rents for shared accommodations (+2.5% to $1,469).
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.
Urbanation is a real estate research firm providing market research.
Urbanation provides in-depth market analysis and consulting services to the apartment industry since 1981. Urbanation uses a multi-disciplinary approach that combines empirical research techniques, industry relationships forged over the past four decades, and first-hand observations and site visitations. Urbanation offers subscription services and custom market feasibility studies covering the new construction condominium and purpose-built rental apartment markets in Ontario.
