Average asking rents in Canada saw a decline of 2.3% year-over-year in December, dropping to an average of $2,060, hitting a 30-month low. The report by Rentals.ca and Urbanation revealed that this marked the 15th consecutive month of decreasing rents across Rentals.ca’s listings network. Throughout 2025, average asking rents in Canada fell by 3.1%, surpassing the decline witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite the decrease, rents are still 14.1% higher than the levels seen before the pandemic in December 2019, although they are down by 5.4% compared to two years ago. Shaun Hildebrand, the president of Urbanation, attributed the rent decline to factors such as a surge in apartment completions, a slowdown in population growth, economic uncertainty, and affordability challenges.
Hildebrand suggested that rents are likely to continue their downward trend in the short term due to existing market conditions. The decline in rents has been more pronounced in secondary market units. In December, average asking rents for house and townhouse rentals dropped by five percent to $2,071, while rents for condominium apartments fell by four percent year-over-year to $2,131. Purpose-built apartment rents decreased by one percent to an average of $2,049.
Provincially, average apartment rents in December fell by 5.4% in British Columbia to $2,353, by 3.2% in Ontario to $2,257, by 2.7% in Alberta to $1,671, and by 1.9% in Quebec to $1,934. On the other hand, rents increased by 7.1% in Saskatchewan to $1,395, by 1.8% in Nova Scotia to $2,268, and by 1% in Manitoba to $1,633.
In the six largest Canadian markets, Vancouver experienced the sharpest annual rent decrease for apartments, down by 7.9% to $2,654, followed by Toronto with a 5.1% decrease to $2,498. Both cities saw their average asking rents reach the lowest levels since early 2022. Calgary saw a five percent decrease to $1,824, Montreal a 2.3% decrease to $1,952, Ottawa a 0.5% decrease to $2,153, and Edmonton experienced a 0.8% increase to $1,518 in average asking rents.
