Canada\u2019s apartment vacancy rate declined in the second quarter for the first time in more than two years, offering an early indication that the rental market may be stabilizing after a prolonged period of softening.<\/p>\n
The national vacancy rate fell 40 basis points to 4.7% in Q2, ending nine consecutive quarters of increases, according to the latest Canadian National Multifamily Report from real estate software and data provider Yardi.<\/p>\n
Despite the quarterly improvement, vacancy remained 60 basis points above the 4.1% recorded a year earlier, reflecting the impact of new purpose-built rental supply completed over the past year.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter two years of rising vacancy, the market is finally tightening even as new purpose-built supply keeps coming online,\u201d said Peter Altobelli, president of Yardi Canada.<\/p>\n
Vacancy rates varied considerably across major markets, from a low of 2.4% in Halifax and 2.8% in Winnipeg to 6.8% in Calgary and 5.8% in Edmonton, although rates in both Alberta cities declined from the previous quarter.<\/p>\n
Vacancy remained highest in Alberta\u2019s two largest cities, reaching 6.8% in Calgary and 5.8% in Edmonton, although both rates declined from the previous quarter.<\/p>\n
Rent growth continues to cool<\/p>\n
The improvement in occupancy came as rent growth slowed further, with average in-place rent rising by just $6 during the quarter to $1,774\u2014the smallest quarterly increase since 2021\u2014while annual growth eased to 2.2%.<\/p>\n
Yardi said most of the remaining growth in in-place rents is coming through lease renewals. Residents are also moving less frequently, with the average length of stay reaching approximately 38 months nationally.<\/p>\n
The combination of slower rent growth, longer tenancies and vacancy remaining above year-ago levels points to a more balanced rental market following several years of acute shortages and rapid rent increases.<\/p>\n
At the same time, Yardi said the development pipeline is expected to slow after a wave of purpose-built rental completions in 2025. A pullback in construction could limit future supply gains if rental demand strengthens.<\/p>\n
Asking rents remain above renter budgets<\/p>\n
Despite the broader signs of stabilization, a separate Rentals.ca survey<\/a> suggests affordability remains a significant obstacle for people currently searching for a home.<\/p>\n Nearly three-quarters of respondents were looking for a rental priced at $2,000 a month or less, below the national average asking rent of $2,033 reported in Rentals.ca\u2019s July National Rent Report<\/a>.<\/p>\n The gap was particularly pronounced in Vancouver and Toronto, where average asking rents reached $2,715 and $2,537, respectively, but only 48% and 36% of respondents reported budgets of at least $2,000.<\/p>\n In Montreal, most respondents were budgeting between $1,000 and $1,499, compared with an average asking rent of $1,949. Most Alberta respondents were also looking below $1,500, while the average asking rent in Calgary stood at $1,820.<\/p>\n High rents were identified as the leading challenge in every market covered by the survey. In Alberta, 49% of respondents said they were moving specifically to find a more affordable home, the largest share of any region surveyed.<\/p>\n Together, the reports suggest rental-market conditions are easing, although affordability remains a challenge. Yardi\u2019s findings cover more than 533,000 rental units across approximately 6,100 properties, while the Rentals.ca survey reflects 1,194 active rental seekers and is not representative of all Canadian renters.<\/p>\n Visited 10 times, 10 visit(s) today<\/p>\n Canadian rent prices<\/a> multi-family<\/a> real esate<\/a> rental market<\/a> rental vacancy rate<\/a> rentals.ca<\/a> vacancies<\/a> Yardi<\/a><\/p>\n Last modified: July 22, 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canada\u2019s apartment vacancy rate declined in the second quarter for the first time in more than two years,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":820000,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44],"class_list":["post-819999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=819999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/820000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}