Canada sees almost a 12% rent hike on a year-over-year basis

Exceeding pre-pandemic levels, the average rent in Canada kept growing last month, with the average rent for all property types listed on Rentals.ca reaching $1,976 per month. It’s $209 or 11.8% higher than in October 2021.

As a result, rents have now gone up by almost 18% since its record low level of $1,676 reported in April 2021.

“The unprecedented rent growth is seen all over Canada, as most markets show double-digit annual gains,” – said Shaun Hildebrand, president of Urbanation. “The rental market becomes hotter with every interest rate hike, combined with a record-high increase in the population. We’ve never faced such a strong need for supply increase.”

The Atlantic provinces showed the sharpest annual rent hikes, with prices growing by about 32.2% from a year ago. Ontario and Alberta follow with 17% gains.

At the same time, British Columbia is still the province with the highest overall monthly rent. In October it went up by 16% annually to $2,433.

Here is the list of the cities with the largest annual rent increases among rental and condominium apartments right now:

• Burnaby, B.C.: $2,726 (+29.7%)
• Brampton, ON: $2,406 (+28.9%)
• Toronto, ON: $2,820 (+26.8%)
• London, ON: $2,016 (+26.2%)
• Kitchener, ON: $2,169 (+24.2%)