Rents slide to lowest point since 2022
Purpose-built resilience and provincial divergence
By property type, purpose-built rental apartments remained the most resilient segment. August asking rents for purpose-built units fell 3.3% year-over-year to $2,038, compared with a steeper 7.7% annual decline in condominium apartments, which averaged $2,050.
Brokers advising clients with investment property exposure will note that Canada’s national vacancy rate dipped for the first time in nine quarters in Q2, a signal that the multi-year wave of purpose-built supply additions may be moderating.
Provincially, Nova Scotia held its position as the country’s most expensive market for apartment and condo rents in July at $2,377, up 4.5% year-over-year and ahead of British Columbia for a third consecutive month, driven in part by a higher concentration of larger units and newly completed buildings undergoing lease-up.
Ontario posted the strongest provincial monthly gain in July at 0.8%, while Saskatchewan and Manitoba, which had led provincial rent growth for much of the past year, both eased month-over-month, a possible sign that interprovincial migration flows into those markets are beginning to stabilise as affordability improves elsewhere.
As rents sank to their lowest June level in four years last month, RBC Economics had cautioned that the correction’s duration would depend heavily on how quickly immigration policy normalises and population growth recovers. That outlook now carries an additional variable: the unresolved trade dispute south of the border.
