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Canadian Rents Keep Falling, But the Slide May Finally Be Bottoming Out
Average asking rents fell more than 4 per cent from a year ago in June, marking the 19th straight month of annual declines, even as prices tick up slightly month over month
Published: July 14, 2026
Canada's rental market continued its long cooling streak in June, with new data from Rentals.ca and Urbanation showing average asking rents fell 4.2 per cent from a year earlier to $2,033 nationally. It marks the 19th consecutive month that year-over-year rents have declined, a stretch that began after rents peaked during the post-pandemic rebound in demand.
Ontario has led the retreat, with average asking rents in the province down 4.2 per cent year over year, while Quebec has seen a more modest 2.2 per cent decline, reflecting a rental market that never ran quite as hot during the boom years. Even so, on a monthly basis rents actually ticked up 0.2 per cent from May, the third straight monthly increase since prices bottomed out at a 35-month low of roughly $2,008 in March.
That combination, falling annual numbers alongside rising monthly ones, is what has some analysts wondering whether the worst of the correction is finally behind the rental market. A similar signal showed up in a separate reading from Yahoo Finance Canada, which put the annual decline slightly higher at 4.7 per cent for May, underscoring how quickly the picture has been shifting month to month.
The rental slowdown has provided some relief for tenants after years of steep increases, but affordability challenges remain acute in expensive markets, and landlords in some regions have begun offering incentives such as a free month's rent to fill vacant units more quickly. Renewed population growth, immigration policy changes and the pace of new purpose-built rental construction will all factor into whether June's uptick becomes a genuine turning point or just a temporary blip.
For now, renters in most major Canadian cities are still paying less than they were a year ago, even if the pace of relief has begun to slow.
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