Rentals.ca and Urbanation attributed the rise to a surge in post-secondary students signing leases before the fall, unprecedented levels of population growth and homebuyers holding off on purchases as interest rates have risen.
“Canada’s rental market is currently facing a perfect storm of factors driving rents to new highs,” said Shaun Hildebrand, president of Urbanation, in a news release.
“These include the peak season for lease activity, an open border policy for new residents, quickly rising incomes, and the worst ever home ownership affordability conditions.”
Realtors have reported some prospective buyers have stayed out of the housing market for the bulk of the year after being spooked by a succession of interest rate hikes that ate into their buying power.
The average price of a home reached $709,218 in June, up 6.7 percent from a year earlier, the Canadian Real Estate Association said last month. On a seasonally-adjusted basis, it was $709,103, down 0.7 percent from a year prior.
The organization believes the national average home price will edge down 0.2 percent from 2022 to $702,409 this year before rising to $723,243 in 2024.
Such prices are keeping renters in the market, but they’re not seeing much relief there either.
For the first time ever, average asking rents for purpose-built condominiums and apartments rose above $2,000 in July, reaching $2,008, Rentals.ca and Urbanation’s research showed.
One-bedroom apartments alone saw a 13 percent annual increase and a monthly rise of 2.5 percent, bringing July’s figure to $1,850.
Montreal also saw significant acceleration in asking rents, but most other markets grew at a slower rate than has been the norm lately.
Vancouver and Toronto landed the top spots for average asking rents for roommate rentals, with rents at $1,455 and $1,296 respectively.