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Canadian Asking Rents Decline in Major Cities as Supply Grows and Immigration Slows

A surge of new purpose-built rental units coupled with slower immigration demand has driven year-over-year declines in advertised asking rents

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Canada's housing agency says advertised rents in major cities are easing due to factors such as increased supply and slower immigration, but renters are still not feeling relief relative to their income levels. Kyle Jerry, right, helps De-Ren Jhou carry a mattress into an apartment building on Quebec's unofficial moving day in Montreal, Tuesday, July 1, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
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Overview

  • Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.’s mid-year update shows year-over-year drops of 3.5% to 4.9% in advertised two-bedroom purpose-built rents in Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary and Halifax.
  • At the same time, Edmonton, Ottawa and Montreal recorded rent increases of 3.9%, 2.1% and 2.0% respectively, bucking the downward trend.
  • Rentals.ca reports a 2.7% national decline in average asking rents in June to $2,125, marking the ninth consecutive month of decreases but remaining more than 11% above June 2022 levels.
  • Landlords are prolonging leasing periods for new purpose-built apartments and offering incentives such as one month free rent and moving allowances as they face competition from secondary rentals.
  • Despite softer advertised rents, occupied-unit costs continue climbing and rent-to-income ratios have worsened since 2020, with vacancy rates forecast to rise as population and job growth moderate.