After taking a breather in June, rent prices continued to trend upward in July, rising 2.6% in the past month.
The average national rent price is now $1,934, up 10.4% compared to a year ago, according to data from Rentals.ca.
That’s just $20 shy of the pre-pandemic peak reached in September 2019.
For single-family homes, the monthly rent was $3,043, a 14.1% year-over-year increase. Rental apartments, which make up the majority of listings on Rentals.ca, averaged $1,743, a 7.7% increase since last year.
A cross-country look at average rents
At a provincial level, British Columbia once again had the highest average rental rate, at $2,590 for all property types. That’s up 0.6% from a month ago and a 19% jump since last July.
Next up was Ontario, with an average rent of $2,332, up 3.1% month-over-month and 15.2% since last year.
Of the seven provinces surveys, Manitoba was the only one that saw rent prices essentially unchanged at $1,377.
At the municipal level, the following are the cities that have seen the largest year-over-year rent increases so far this year:
- Victoria: $2,667 (+27%)
- Hamilton: $2,097 (+26%)
- Kitchener: $2,108 (+25%)
- Burnaby: $2,680 (+24%)
- Toronto: $2,691 (+24%)
Even Red Deer, AB and Saskatoon, SK—two of the least expensive markets—saw rents jump by double-digits in the past year.
Higher interest rates and back-to-work impacting prices
The report concludes that rents are facing upward pressure due to a combination of rising interest rates and more people returning back to the office, which has increased rental costs in the larger cities.
Rising interest rates, meanwhile, “reduce the affordability of ownership housing, and cause uncertainty for would-be buyers worried about future price declines,” the report noted.
“The pace of growth in the rental market will continue to be impacted by interest rate increases, and how many units of ownership housing units are listed for rent as would-be sellers become discouraged with the state of the resale housing market and put off listing their property for sale,” it added.
Other factors driving demand include elevated immigration levels, along with an unemployment rate near historic lows.
“So, despite some recession fears, the rental market demand remains strong,” Rentals.ca noted.
