Canada’s average rents just saw their biggest drop in 3 years

The latest rent report from Urbanation and rentals.ca for June shows the average asking rents across all property types fell 0.8 per cent from May, down to an average of $2,185.

Rent growth has stalled overall in recent months in Canada, with some of the country’s most expensive cities seeing annual declines in asking rents while other rental markets continue to see prices soar.

The latest rent report from Urbanation and rentals.ca for June shows the average asking rents across all property types fell 0.8 per cent from May, down to an average of $2,185.

The report noted this was the biggest month-to-month decline in rents since early 2021 — amid the COVID-19 pandemic — and marks a reversal of seasonal trends that usually see rents rising this time of year.

June’s annual increase of seven per cent is also the slowest yearly growth rate in rents in the past 13 months, according to rentals.ca and Urbanation’s tracking.

Recent months have shown a general cooling in the rental market, a marked contrast from the past few years of soaring rent tied to growing competition for units and a general lack of supply.

Rents have been “effectively flat” over the past three months, the report said, rising just 0.2 per cent on a national basis between March and June.

Zooming in on particular cities and provinces tells a different story, however.

Average asking rents for condos and purpose-built rental apartments in Toronto fell three per cent to a 22-month low of $2,715, the report stated. Vancouver rents in the same category are still holding above $3,000 per month after rising 1.1 per cent on a monthly basis, but declined eight per cent year over year.