Now is the ‘best time’ to rent in Canada as asking price hits 31-month low: report
Now is the ‘best time’ to rent in Canada as asking price hits 31-month low: report
https://globalnews.ca/news/11659448/canada-rental-market-rents-decrease-january-2026/
Publish Date: 2026-02-09 14:41:00
The housing market in Canada isn’t just good for buyers. Renters are also finding lower prices as average asking rents hit a 31-month low in January.
The numbers come from Rentals.ca and Urbanation’s latest national rent report, which showed the average rent for all residential properties dropped two per cent year-over-year to $2,057 last month.
“If you’re looking to get into the rental market, this is the best time we’ve seen in years,” said Giacomo Ladas, associate communications director at Rentals.ca. “It really has gone back to the renter, which is a good thing.”
Rents declined for the 16th consecutive month, with the two organizations noting asking rents have declined by 6.3 per cent over the past two years.
Part of the reason for the decline is the size of the units also declining.
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The report found the average size of rental listings was 857 square feet in January, compared to 885 in January 2025 and 943 two years ago.
Purpose-built rentals saw a one per cent annual decline to $2,049, while condo apartments dropped 5.7 per cent to an average of $2,093.
Ladas told Global News that some of these smaller units are actually condos that were built to sell, but due to the housing market change has had an impact.
“A lot of them were shoebox condos that, frankly, nobody wanted to buy so now they have come flooding into the rental market,” he said.
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When it came to the number of bedrooms, it was one-bedroom units that saw rent drop 3.4 per cent to $1,792 on average. Yet at the same time, larger properties like three-bedroom apartments of all types rose 1.1 per cent to $2,506.
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“What I think that reflects is that Canadians…
