The rent increase in Canada has slowed to a pace not seen in three years, largely attributed to international student enrollments plummeting after record highs.
Average asking rents for all residential property types in Canada grew by just 2.1% year-over-year in September, reaching $2,193 per month, according to the latest Rentals.ca and Urbanation report, marking the smallest annual rent increase since Oct. 2021.
The report highlighted a five-month trend of slowing rent growth, with the annual increase dropping significantly from May’s 9% rate.
However, rents skyrocketed from $1,751 to $1,934 between Sept. 2021 and 2022, a 10.5% increase. They saw a further increase from $1,934 to $2,149 between Sept. 2022 and 2023, an 11.1% increase or a cumulative 22.7% increase over the two years. The rents have nearly plateaued, increasing only $44 or 2% from $2,149 to $2,193 between Sep. 2023 and 2024.
“Rents in Canada are increasing at their slowest pace in nearly three years, largely the result of foreign student enrollments dropping by roughly a half from their record highs, with the impact felt most in B.C. and Ontario,” said Shaun Hildebrand, President of Urbanation. “Meanwhile, smaller, more affordable markets continue to see strong upward pressure on rents as demand shifts to less expensive parts of the country.”
Ontario had 51% of Canada’s international students in 2022, followed by British Columbia, which had 22% of the country’s international students, according to Statistics Canada.
Following rampant fraud and an explosion in international student enrollment, the Liberals imposed a 2-year cap on student visas, reducing the number by 35%.
The average rent for apartment and condo listings in Ontario and British Columbia fell by 4% and 3%, respectively. Throughout the country, it rose by 3.9%. No other province saw a decrease. The province with the largest increase was Saskatchewan, where rents for apartments and condos rose 24%.
Giacomo Ladas, the associate director of communications for Rentals.ca, previously told True North that Saskatchewan was becoming the new Alberta, as the last-ditch effort to find affordable housing in Canada.
“If you don’t have to live in a metropolitan core to work anymore, and you can work from home, then Saskatchewan looks pretty great,” said Ladas.
The most expensive markets remained unchanged, with Vancouver and Toronto holding the top two spots again, at $3,023 and $2,668 per month to rent an apartment or condo, respectively. Despite staying at the top with their ridiculous costs, Vancouver saw a 9% decrease, followed by Toronto, which saw an 8% decrease.
The municipality which saw the largest increase was the cheapest in the top 25, Saskatoon, at $1,428 a month on average to rent an apartment or condo, a rise of 25% since last year.
Alberta has previously led the country in rent increases, thanks primarily to interprovincial migration. Calgary and Edmonton saw rents rise faster than any other large city in previous reports.
Premier Danielle Smith has recently become far more anti-immigration.
In the most recent Rental Report, Saskatchewan led the country in rental increase, at 24%, followed by Manitoba at 14%, Atlantic Canada at 13%, and Alberta at 10% in yearly growth of apartment and condo listings.
However, Alberta was still home to the fastest-growing small or mid-sized market, Lloydminster, which saw a 27.5% increase in average rent for purpose-built condos and apartments.
Shared accommodations gained popularity across the country, with a 6.9% annual growth in asking rents countrywide. Again, the most expensive locations were Vancouver and Toronto, despite seeing 6.5% and 5.7% annual decreases, respectively.
However, the popularity of shared accommodations exploded, with listings rising 48.7% since last year.
The study said that single-family homeowners are renting out rooms more often to offset rising mortgage payments.