The average one-bedroom rent in St. Catharines was down two per cent month-over-month to $1,655 in February, according to the latest Rentals.ca market update.
One-bedroom rents in St. Catharines were up, however, by two per cent year-over-year from February 2024.
Meanwhile, a two-bedroom unit in St. Catharines cost an average of $1,991 in February, which is up 1.1 per cent from the previous month and 2.9 per cent from the previous year.
For Canada-wide numbers, the report notes that rents in Canada declined by 4.8 per cent in February compared to February 2024, reaching their lowest levels since July 2023.
“The year-over-year decrease in February was the steepest since April 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, representing a dramatic trend reversal from a year earlier in February 2024 when asking rents increased 10.5 per cent annually,” reads the report.
“Despite the recent decline, average asking rents are 5.2 per cent higher than two years earlier in February 2023 and 16.9 per cent higher than the pre-COVID level five years ago in February 2020.”
Out of all the Canadian listings examined Rentals.ca report, the average for a zero-bedroom studio for January was $1,590, a one-bedroom was $1,877, and the two-bedroom average was $2,257.
Therefore, the average one-bedroom and two-bedroom rents in St. Catharines are below the Canada-wide average.
Regarding rankings, St. Catharines is the 26th most expensive city to rent a one-bedroom unit out of the 35 cities examined, up two spots from January.
St. Catharines is now rated as the most affordable Ontario city examined other than Windsor.
The other Niagara Region city included in the analysis is Niagara Falls. Niagara Falls ranks as the 21st most expensive one-bedroom unit rent with an average of $1,753, while the average two-bedroom unit was $2,132.
Niagara Falls continues to become more expensive than St. Catharines, a reversal of trends up until October 2024.
However, Niagara Falls rental prices for one-bedroom and two-bedroom units are still below the national average.
The report notes that condos, homes and townhomes recorded a Canada-wide annual decline in asking rents in February.
Meanwhile, purpose-built studios rents and three-bedroom apartments were the only units to experience growth in February, at 1.4 per cent and 3.8 per cent respectively.
Purpose-built units are those in properties that are built specifically for rental or long-term tenancy and usually include amenities such as fitness areas, swimming pools, and communal spaces.
The report also notes that Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia were the only provinces to record a year-over-year decline in apartment rents in February, with Ontario rentals down four per cent from February 2024 to an average of $2,329.
Meanwhile, apartment rents increased in Atlantic Canada (+6 per cent), Saskatchewan (+5 per cent), Manitoba (+3 per cent), and Alberta (+1 per cent).
The five most expensive cities of the 35 examined in the report include one in British Columbia (Vancouver) and four in Ontario (Burlington, Mississauga, Toronto, and Waterloo).
The five most affordable cities of the 35 examined in the report include one in Alberta (Edmonton), one in Manitoba (Winnipeg), one in Ontario (Windsor) and two in Saskatchewan (Saskatoon and Regina).
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 Ontario Director at the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. He previously served as 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.
