Statistics Canada recently published new
experimental quarterly estimates for rents form Canadian CMAs. The rent for
a two-bedroom apartment as well as the annualized quarterly change was
provided. What made the news was that
according to a composite measure for all CMAs “the average asking rent for a
two-bedroom apartment was $2,150 in the first quarter of 2026, down 0.9% from
the first quarter of 2025, when the figure was $2,170.” Naturally, many would interpret this as rent becoming more affordable in Canada.
Indeed, “…
average asking rent for
two-bedroom apartments decreased in most major Canadian metropolitan areas. In
the first quarter of 2026, asking rent averaged $2,660 in Toronto (-1.1%),
$1,900 in Montréal (-1.6%), $3,100 in Vancouver (-2.2%) and $2,350 in Ottawa–Gatineau
(Ontario part) (-5.6%). CMAs in the Prairies saw smaller declines in average
asking rent, with Calgary standing at $1,900 (-1.0%) and Edmonton at $1,580
(-0.6%). In contrast, Halifax recorded growth in average asking rent, reaching
$2,350, a 5.4% increase compared with the same quarter in 2025.”
While much was made of the rent decline it turns out that
only about 60 percent of the CMAs saw their average rents decline between
1stQ2025 and 1stQ2026 ranging from the biggest drop at -5.9 percent for
Kingston to -0.5 percent for St. Catherines. The others were all non-negative ranging from 0 for Sherbrooke,
Belleville-Quinte West and Peterborough to 9.4 percent for Saskatoon. (See
figure)
It should be noted that for those of you in northern Ontario, Thunder
Bay saw an increase of 5 percent while Greater Sudbury saw an increase of 7.7
percent – the second highest rent increase nationally. Except for Winnipeg,
which saw a 3.9 percent increase, the remainder of what can be termed Canada’s
top ten CMAs all saw year over year declines in rents. However, in Canada’s biggest cities, the
declines were modest with Toronto declining 1.1 percent, Montreal 1.6 percent
and Vancouver 2.2 percent.
However, with the average rent nationally for a two-bedroom
at $2,150, affordability in Canada’s housing market is still some ways off.
