A significant contrast appears to be emerging among Canada’s rental apartment markets as demand is affected by slowing immigration, looming trade tensions and a tightening job market.
Owners of residential rentals have been coping with softer renter demand by lowering asking rents in many cities, including Vancouver. It comes as economic policy shifts are rippling across the nation's rental market.
According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.'s 2025 Mid-Year Rental Market Update, the Vancouver apartment market saw a 4.9% decline in asking rents in the first quarter compared to the same period one year earlier.
Asking rents were also 3.7% lower in Toronto, 3.5% lower in Calgary and 4.2% lower in Halifax during that same time, according to the CMHC.
The U.S. has threatened tariffs this year, leading to shifts in economic expectations in various industries, including commercial real estate. Federal policy changes have been aimed at curbing temporary residency during a housing shortage across Canada.
The report also noted that many residential landlords are taking measures to fill empty units.
Some increases
"Purpose-built rental operators are responding to market conditions by offering incentives to new tenants such as one month of free rent, moving allowances and signing bonuses," according to the CMHC.
However, the trend is not uniform across the country as asking rents in some other cities were moving in the opposite direction.
In Edmonton, asking rents rose by 3.9%, while Ottawa saw an average increase of 2.1% and Montreal saw asking rents 2% higher in the first quarter of 2025, according to the CMHC study.
Despite the softening of asking rents in Vancouver and Toronto, renters are still feeling the pinch.
The market's rent-to-income ratio increased to 17.8% in Vancouver and 16.4% in Toronto, according to the CMHC.
Ottawa and Edmonton proved the most affordable of the big cities surveyed by the cost-to-income ratio metric, as monthly apartment rents came in at 12.5% of income.
Halifax and Montreal placed in the middle at 13.9% and 13.3% respectively, according to the CMHC.