Average asking rents fall annually for 10th straight month to $2,121: report

The national average asking rent in July fell 3.6 per cent from a year earlier to $2,121, marking the 10th straight month of year-over-year decreases and the largest drop of 2025. 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

TORONTO — The national average asking rent in July fell 3.6 per cent from a year earlier to $2,121, marking the 10th straight month of year-over-year decreases and the largest drop of 2025 so far.

The latest monthly report from Rentals.ca and Urbanation said asking rents held roughly steady in July on a month-over-month basis, down $4 from June.

The report said purpose-built apartment asking rents fell 1.7 per cent from a year ago to an average of $2,095, while asking rents for condominium apartments decreased 5.7 per cent to $2,202.

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Rents for houses and townhomes declined 8.2 per cent to $2,170.

“Canada’s rental market is experiencing a prolonged softening phase, with price declines accelerating across most provinces and unit types,” said Rentals.ca manager of data services David Aizikov in a press release.

“With the seasonal peak now behind us, we expect continued downward pressure on rents heading into the fall.”

But the report says average asking rents in Canada are still two per cent higher than they were two years ago and 11 per cent above levels from three years ago.

Nova Scotia saw the largest rent decline in July with asking rents falling five per cent year-over-year to an average of $2,275, followed by B.C.’s 4.4 per cent decrease to $2,475 and Ontario’s three per cent drop to $2,325.

Average asking rents in Alberta decreased 3.9 per cent year-over-year to $1,738 while Manitoba rents dipped 0.9 per cent to an average of $1,617.

Despite being Canada’s most affordable province for rentals, Saskatchewan saw annual growth of four per cent to an average of $1,384.

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Apartment rents fell in four of Canada’s six largest cities, with the other two recording growth of one per cent or lower on an annual basis.

Calgary saw the biggest decrease at 7.9 per cent to $1,927, followed by a seven per cent annual decrease in Vancouver to $2,830 and a 4.7 per cent decline in Toronto to $2,587. Montreal apartment rents were down 2.3 per cent to $1,966.

Meanwhile, rents in Ottawa grew one per cent into $2,199 and ticked up 0.6 per cent in Edmonton to $1,573.

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Sammy Hudes, The Canadian Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 8, 2025.