A new report says the national average asking rent in March was $2,119, marking the sixth straight month of year-over-year declines.
By Sammy Hudes
On a month-over-month basis, rents rose 1.5% from February, the first increase since last September.
Urbanation president Shaun Hildebrand said renters were more active in March than they’d been in recent months, likely thanks to improvements in affordability.
“However, rents are likely to continue facing downward pressure in the near-term due to the expected negative economic impact and job losses caused by the trade conflict with the U.S.,” he said in a press release.
The report said average asking rents in Canada are still 17.8% higher than they were five years ago when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020.
Purpose-built apartment asking rents declined 1.5% from a year ago to an average of $2,086, while asking rents for condominium apartments fell 3.8% to $2,232.
Ontario recorded the steepest rent declines, with combined apartment and condo rents falling 3.5% to an average of $2,327 in March, followed by Quebec’s 2.5 per cent decrease to $1,949.
B.C. saw a slight 0.6% decrease in average asking rents to $2,480 while Alberta’s average ask was down 0.4% to $1,721.
Saskatchewan led the way for year-over-year rent growth, at three per cent, to an average of $1,336, followed by Nova Scotia at 2.4% to $2,199 and Manitoba at two per cent to $1,592.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 8, 2025.
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