Rent Hit a New High in July as Students Prepped for School, Buyers Sidelined: Report

A for rent sign is displayed on a house in Ottawa on Oct. 14, 2022. Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press

Canadian renters have long lamented the increasing prices they see landlords request of tenants, but in July, those totals hit a level unseen in the country’s history.

Data from Rentals.ca and research firm Urbanation released this week show July’s average asking rent hit $2,078, just shy of nine percent above the same month last year.

The organizations behind the data said July’s numbers also constitute the fastest pace of growth over the past three months and add the average asking rent rose 1.8 percent between June and July, the most rapid month-over-month increase in the last eight months.

Compared to July 2021, the average asking rent increased by 21 percent, adding $354 per month on average.

Rentals.ca and Urbanation attributed the rise to a surge in post-secondary students signing leases before the fall, unprecedented levels of population growth and homebuyers holding off on purchases as interest rates have risen.

“Canada’s rental market is currently facing a perfect storm of factors driving rents to new highs,” said Shaun Hildebrand, president of Urbanation, in a news release.

“These include the peak season for lease activity, an open border policy for new residents, quickly rising incomes, and the worst ever home ownership affordability conditions.”

Realtors have reported some prospective buyers have stayed out of the housing market for the bulk of the year after being spooked by a succession of interest rate hikes that ate into their buying power.

The average price of a home reached $709,218 in June, up 6.7 percent from a year earlier, the Canadian Real Estate Association said last month. On a seasonally-adjusted basis, it was $709,103, down 0.7 percent from a year prior.

The organization believes the national average home price will edge down 0.2 percent from 2022 to $702,409 this year before rising to $723,243 in 2024.