What do Canadian renters truly want? By David Gargaro
Knowing what renters want and need is an integral part of owning and managing rental properties. After all, renters are the lifeblood of your business. It’s essential to attract and retain good tenants who pay the rent consistently. This is even more important given the current state of Canada’s rental housing market. National vacancy rates are on the rise. Average asking rents are on the decline across the country, falling for the 17th consecutive month (as per Rentals.ca). The condo rental market is oversaturated because real estate investors cannot sell their units; a lot of this inventory have become rentals, creating more competition for tenants. Immigration has fallen 18 per cent year over year, negatively impacting demand for rental housing in some markets. What’s going on with Canadian renters? And what do they truly want when looking for a place to live? Their preferences and choices can drive rental housing business decisions (as well as asking rents). RHB Magazine examined the findings in four reports to learn more about what’s happening in the rental housing market from renters’ point of view.
RentCafe.com Canada Renter Interest Report (Q4 2025) To identify Canada’s top-trending rental markets, RentCafe.com analyzed millions of interactions on its website across 25 cities. Their analysis focused on four key indicators from Canadian properties listed on the platform: available listings, listing views, apartments saved as favourites, and saved personalized searches. The cities were scored and then ranked according to which ones attracted the highest level of interest from apartment-seekers.
Top cities Canada’s top 10 trending cities for renter interest in the fourth quarter of 2025 were: 1. Moncton, NB
6. Victoria, BC
2. Hamilton, ON
7.
3. Halifax, NS
8. Winnipeg, MB
4. Saskatoon, SK
9. Ottawa, ON
Vancouver, BC
5. Regina, SK 10. Edmonton, AB “Several smaller and mid-sized cities attracted more renter interest in the fourth quarter than their population size might suggest,”
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said Meherzad Bakht, Senior Sales Manager, Yardi Systems. “With steady engagement and continued visibility in the rankings, these markets remain strong alternatives to Canada’s largest urban centres, especially for renters focused on affordability and availability.” Moncton led the rental rankings with a perfect score, due to increased interest in Atlantic Canada, affordability, quality of life, and increased economic momentum. Rental properties attracted interest from locals, as well as renters from Halifax, Montreal, and Toronto. Other smaller and mid-sized cities, like Saskatoon and Victoria, attracted more renter searches due to affordability and availability of rental properties. Hamilton saw the biggest jump in rankings (moving up 10 spots to 2nd on the list), due primarily to spillover demand from renters priced out of Toronto and the surrounding area. Toronto improved in the rankings, rising to 12th on the list. Calgary fell out of the top 10 list to 15th. Montreal ranked 24th, putting it near the bottom of the list. To read the full report, visit https://www.rentcafe. com/blog/rental-market/market-snapshots/canadarenter-interest-report. continued on page 30