Rents in Niagara Falls, St. Catharines, and Welland all fell in September, as rents across Canada fell to a two-year low.
That’s all according to a new Rentals.ca report.
Overall Canadian rents fell by 3.2 per cent in September compared to a year prior.
The monthly Rentals.ca National Rent Report includes 60 cities across Canada and has recorded a year-over-year decline in national rents for 12 consecutive months.
Out of those 60 cities, 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 second most affordable major city in Canada’s largest province, after Sarnia.
In terms of overall rankings, Niagara Falls ranks as Canada’s 40th most expensive city, St. Catharines comes in at 42nd, while Welland ranks 46th.
That’s a change in rankings for two of the three cities. Both Niagara Falls and Welland fell two spots in national rankings, meaning both cities became less expensive compared to other cities. St. Catharines remained in the same slot in the overall rankings.
In Niagara Falls, the average rent for a one-bedroom unit was down 1.6 per cent from August to $1,694 and down 1.9 per cent from September 2024.
Two-bedroom units were priced at an average of $2,054, which is down 1.3 per cent from August and up 0.9 per cent from September 2024.
In St. Catharines, the average one-bedroom was down 0.6 cent from August to $1,676 and down 2.4 per cent from September 2024.
Two-bedroom units were down 1.8 per cent from August and down 4.8 per cent from September 2024 to an average of $1,909.
In Welland, the average one-bedroom was down 3.2 per cent from August to $1,589 and down 6.7 per cent from September 2024.
Two-bedroom units were priced at an average of $1,856, which is down 4.7 per cent from August and down 4.8 per cent from September 2024.
The report notes that this is the longest stretch of declining rent prices since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Asking rents in Canada decreased 3.2 per cent in September from last year’s record high to an average of $2,123, marking the twelfth consecutive month of year-over-year declines,” the report reads. “This followed 38 consecutive months of rent increases between August 2021 and September 2024 and 15 consecutive months of rent decreases between May 2020 and July 2021 during COVID-19.”
“The latest rent declines have coincided with record high apartment completions, population decreases for non-permanent residents, and a weakening job market.”
Out of all the Canadian listings examined in the Rentals.ca report, the average for a zero-bedroom studio for September was $1,616, a one-bedroom was $1,835, and the two-bedroom average was $2,220.
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 Manitoba saw modest year-over-year increases in apartment rents in September, while rents in Saskatchewan and Quebec remained flat. Everywhere else, however, rents fell, including in Ontario, where rents were down an average of 2.7 per cent to $2,316.
The five most expensive cities of the 60 examined in the report include three in British Columbia (North Vancouver, Vancouver, and Burnaby) and two in Ontario (Toronto and Oakville).
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 (Saskatoon), 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.
