Asking rents fall for 25th month to $2,036, but Toronto and Vancouver turn up

Canadian asking rents fell for a 25th consecutive month in October, but the decline is narrowing and rents in Toronto and Vancouver have started to rise, according to a monthly report from Rentals.ca and Urbanation.

The national average asking rent for all property types was $2,036 in October, down 3.2 per cent from a year earlier, The Canadian Press reported on Nov. 5, citing the report. It was the smallest annual decline since February, when rents were down 2.8 per cent. Rents are 5.4 per cent below where they were two years ago and sit at their lowest October level since 2022.

On a month-to-month basis the market was essentially flat, with rents up 0.1 per cent from September. Our earlier coverage of the September report put the national average at $2,034, down 4.2 per cent from a year earlier. That means the annual decline eased by a full percentage point in a single month.

Purpose-built rental apartments averaged $2,040, down 2.1 per cent from a year ago. Condominium apartments averaged $2,048, down 5.5 per cent. Condo rents have fallen more than twice as fast as purpose-built rents, though the two segments now sit only $8 apart.

Shaun Hildebrand, president of Urbanation, said the window for cheaper rents is closing in Toronto and Vancouver, where prices are starting to rise for the first time in nearly three years as supply declines. Renters still hold the advantage in Calgary, Edmonton and much of Ontario, where prices continue to fall, according to the report as relayed by The Canadian Press. The wire story did not include city-level dollar figures.

The rental data lands in the same week as fresh figures from the ownership side of the market, and the two are moving in different directions in the Greater Toronto Area. The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) reported that 5,603 homes changed hands in the GTA in October, down 7.9 per cent from October 2025. New listings fell 11.9 per cent to 14,173. The average selling price was $1,024,108, down 2.7 per cent from a year earlier, and the MLS Home Price Index composite benchmark was down 4.3 per cent, CP24 reported on Nov. 4. We covered the Toronto and Vancouver October sales numbers earlier this week.

Put side by side, the GTA numbers show sale prices still falling year over year while Urbanation says Toronto asking rents have turned higher. That divergence is the part of the picture worth watching: shrinking rental supply is pushing rents up even as a softer resale market gives buyers more room to negotiate. TRREB chief information officer Jason Mercer said buyers have more negotiating power and more choice, which has helped affordability, and that buyers and sellers are largely “sitting on the sidelines” amid economic uncertainty.

Borrowing costs are part of that hesitation. The Bank of Canada raised its benchmark rate by 25 basis points to 2.5 per cent, its first increase since July 2023, as CP24 noted in its TRREB report. We looked at what the hike adds to a variable-rate mortgage in an earlier piece. Mercer said he expects the usual seasonal slowdown in November and December, and named trade developments, a resolution to the Middle East conflict and easing inflation as factors that could restore confidence into next year.

The caveat is that one month does not make a trend. National asking rents are still falling year over year, and the flat month-over-month reading of 0.1 per cent is within the range of ordinary noise. What the October report does show is that the national average hides a split: falling rents in Alberta and much of Ontario, and rising ones in the country’s two most expensive big-city markets.

Sources: Rentals.ca and Urbanation monthly rent report for October 2026, as reported by The Canadian Press (Nov. 5, 2026); Toronto Regional Real Estate Board October 2026 market figures, as reported by CP24 (Nov. 4, 2026). Photos are illustrative stock photography and do not depict any specific property.