Canadian rental prices eased last quarter, but they have a long way to go to normalize after the surge. Statistics Canada (Stat Can) data shows the asking price for a 1-bedroom apartment rental saw a substantial drop in Q1 2025. While the drop was sharp, it offered little relief compared to the growth seen since 2019—with cities still up to 90% higher post-decline.
About Today’s Data
Today we’re looking at rents from Stat Can’s relatively new Canadian Housing Statistics Program (CHSP). More specifically, we’re looking at the average asking rent of a 1-bedroom apartment rental across the country’s census metropolitan areas (CMAs). These are the 40 largest cities across the country, and the quarterly data covers Q1 2019 through Q1 2025.
Canadian 1-Bedroom Apartment Rents Fell 1.9% In Q1 2025
Canadian apartment rentals have been sliding after soaring sharply in recent years. The median 1-bedroom asking price in major cities was $1,555/month in Q1 2025, down 1.9% from the previous quarter. Following a record high in Q4 2024, the substantial quarterly drop was enough to wipe out gains in 2024, bringing prices 0.3% lower than last year.
The annual drop contrasts sharply with the 4.5% growth reported in CPI. However, this isn’t exactly a story of how negative the pressure on rents has been. The median asking rent of the CMAs climbed a mindblowing 49.5% from 2019 to 2025. For context, the Bank of Canada’s (BoC) target inflation was ~12% and actual inflation was ~20% over the same period. Over just six years, the median rent grew four times faster than the BoC’s inflation target.
Canada’s Five Largest Cities Are Correcting—Except Ottawa
Canadian rental prices: The average annual asking price for a 1-bedroom apartment rental in Canada’s largest CMAs.
Source: Statistics Canada; Better Dwelling.
Only one of Canada’s largest cities has seen 1-bedroom apartment rents rise in the past year. Annual growth in Ottawa’s (Ontario side: +6.4%) in Q1 2025, while Montreal was stagnant (0%). The remainder saw prices decline, including: Calgary (-6.3%), Vancouver (-5.9%), and Toronto (-1.8%). However, all of these regions have seen substantial gains since the index first began in 2019.
Between Q1 2019 and Q1 2025, rents rose significantly across the market. The largest increase over the period was observed in Montreal (+57.1%)—once known for its affordable rents, but no longer the case. It’s followed by Ottawa (+47.8%), Calgary (+41.7%), and Vancouver (+27.8%).
The only city to see single-digit growth—in any of the CMAs, not just the five largest—over the period is Toronto (+9.1%). Despite the slow growth, it remains the second most expensive market in the country, behind only Vancouver.
Canadian Rents Fell, But Still Up To 90% Higher In Cities
Canadian rental prices: The change in average asking rents for a 1-bedroom apartment in census metropolitan areas across Canada from Q1 2019 to Q1 2025. In percentage points.
Source: Statistics Canada; Better Dwelling.
On the note of Quebec seeing absurd growth, cities from the region dominate when it comes to the highest growth. The fastest growing 1-bedroom prices from 2019 to 2025 were observed in Sherbrooke, QC (+90.7%), where prices almost doubled.
Keep in mind, these are 1-bedroom rentals in the world’s second-largest country. Despite this, not one city has an average rental price that’s considered affordable for a single, full-time minimum-wage employee. The closest would be Trois-Rivières ($910/month), but even then it’s just above the recent, arbitrary definition of affordability. Affordable rents weren’t always just considered the maximum a person can pay to service mortgage debt before default risk rises. But that’s a story for another day.
A one-bedroom unit is also typically a starter rental, and it already presents affordability challenges. If households are expected to remain in these units long-term and forgo starting families, this amplifies the demographic dependency problem. However, it’s starting to become clear that the problem is often presented as the solution by the very same policymakers that manufactured the issue.