Rents declined across Niagara Region in January, in line with declines nationwide, as rents across Canada fell to their lowest levels in nearly three years.
That’s all according to a new Rentals.ca report.
The monthly Rentals.ca National Rent Report includes 60 cities across Canada and has recorded a year-over-year decline in national rents for 16 consecutive months. In fact, national rents have now hit lows not seen since June 2023.
Out of the 60 cities tracked in the Rentals.ca report, Niagara Region’s major urban centres rank among some of the most affordable in Canada, and certainly in Ontario. In fact, Welland is ranked as the third most affordable major city in Canada’s largest province, after Sarnia and Windsor.
In terms of overall rankings, Niagara Falls ranks as Canada’s 39th most expensive city, St. Catharines comes in at 45th, while Welland ranks 46th. All of those ranking remain unchanged from December.
In Niagara Falls, the average rent for a one-bedroom unit was relatively unchanged from December, coming in at $1,684. However, rents were down significantly from January 2025, falling by 6.5 per cent.
Two-bedroom units were priced at an average of $1,899, which is down 0.3 per cent from December and down 9.4 per cent from January 2025.
In St. Catharines, the average one-bedroom was down 2.5 per cent from December to $1,608 and down 4.8 per cent from January 2025.
Two-bedroom units were up 0.1 per cent from December and down 1.2 per cent from January 2025 to an average of $1,945.
In Welland, the average one-bedroom was down 0.8 per cent from December to $1,506 and down 9.0 per cent from January 2025.
Two-bedroom units were priced at an average of $1,823, which is down 2.0 per cent from December and 0.4 per cent from January 2025.
The report notes that this is the longest stretch of declining rent prices in years, surpassing declines seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, at 16 months in a row. Asking rents also fell to their lowest point in over 2.5 years.
“Asking rents for all property types in Canada fell to a 31-month low of $2,057 in January, declining on an annual basis for the 16th consecutive month. This surpassed the 15 months of rent declines experienced during COVID-19.”
However, “the annual rate of decline slowed for the third consecutive month, with the 2.0% year-over-year decrease representing the smallest annual decline since November 2024.”
The report notes that asking rents in Canada have declined by 6.3 per cent over the past two years but are 3.1 per cent higher than three years ago and 12.9 per cent higher than they were in January 2020.
Out of all the Canadian listings examined in the Rentals.ca report, the average for a zero-bedroom studio for January was $1,568, a one-bedroom was $1,820, and the two-bedroom average was $2,245.
That means rents in all three of the Niagara Region cities looked at in the report fell below the national average.
The report notes that Atlantic Canada, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan saw modest year-over-year increases in apartment rents in January. Everywhere else, however, rents fell, including in Ontario, where rents were down an average of 3.5 per cent to $2,275.
The five most expensive cities of the 60 examined in the report include two in British Columbia (North Vancouver and Vancouver) and three in Ontario (Oakville, Toronto, and North York).
The five most affordable cities of the 60 examined in the report include three in Alberta (Fort McMurray, Medicine Hat, and Lloydminster), one in Saskatchewan (Regina), and one in Atlantic Canada (St. John’s).
The data used in the Rentals.ca analysis is based on monthly listings from the Rentals.ca Network of Internet Listings Services (ILS).
The rankings and report are written by real estate research firm Urbanation.
The Rentals.ca Network of ILS’s data covers both the primary and secondary rental markets and includes basement apartments, rental apartments, condominium apartments, townhouses, semi-detached houses, and single-detached houses.
Jay Goldberg is the Canadian Affairs Manager at the Consumer Choice Center. He previously served as the Ontario Director at the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and a policy fellow at the Munk School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. Jay holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Toronto.
