Ottawa, ON – New data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) indicates that recent caps on foreign students and new permanent residents are playing a significant role in lowering rental demand and subsequently lowering average asking rents in several of Canada’s major cities. A report released this Tuesday by the national housing agency highlights a noticeable shift in the rental market across Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Halifax, highlighting the effect that irresponsible immigration under the former Trudeau Liberal government was responsible for unsustainable housing costs.
The cost of housing in Canada has been a key issue in the country since Justin Trudeau was elected a second time, and had grown to be enough of a problem that it became a major ballot question in April’s federal election. The Mark Carney campaign recognized the importance of the issue and swiftly moved to plagiarize PM-contender Pierre Poilievre‘s housing proposals, to considerable objection from Canadian conservatives.
Over the past year, the average asking monthly rent for both condominiums and purpose-built rental apartments in these four cities experienced declines ranging between 2 per cent and 8 per cent.
“It is quite evident on the demand side that there have been signs of weakening,” stated Tania Bourassa-Ochoa, CMHC’s deputy chief economist. She further noted that “there were stronger rental declines in regions with slower population growth.” This observation aligns with recent Statistics Canada figures, which show that temporary residents constituted 7.1 per cent of the country’s total population as of April 2025, a decrease from the peak of 7.4 per cent recorded in October of last year.
The study provides specific figures illustrating the changes in average asking rents for two-bedroom apartments in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2024:
- Vancouver: The average asking rent was $3,001, representing a 4.9-per-cent drop from the same period in 2024. This contrasts sharply with a 4.5 per cent increase observed from 2023 to 2024.
- Calgary: Rents averaged $1,872, a 3.5-per-cent decline from the same period in 2024. The previous year saw a substantial 17-per-cent rise.
- Toronto: The average asking rent was $2,522, a 3.7-per-cent drop over the same period in 2024. This follows a 3.8-per-cent increase in the previous year.
- Halifax: Rents stood at $2,171, a decline of 4.2 per cent from 2024 compared with an 8.7-per-cent increase in the previous year.
The report also detailed changes in asking rents for rental condos, which are typically owned by individual investors. For two-bedroom units, Vancouver saw a 4.8 per cent fall this year compared with an increase of 1.2 per cent in the previous year. In Calgary, the asking rent declined 3.6 per cent this year compared with a 10.7-per-cent rise in the previous year. In Toronto, the asking rent fell 1.7 per cent this year after a 0.5-per-cent decline in the previous year. And in Halifax, the decline was 8.3 per cent this year compared with an 11.7-per-cent rise in the previous year.
The study specifically noted that the cap on international students is influencing rental demand in British Columbia, Ontario, and Nova Scotia. However, CMHC’s report did not provide granular data for cities with a substantial proportion of post-secondary students, such as London, Kingston, and Kitchener in Ontario.
This latest CMHC study builds upon a recent quarterly report from the housing agency and Statistics Canada, which surveys average asking rents across the country. This approach is designed to provide a more accurate reflection of current rental market conditions, unlike other government rental reports that include rates for already occupied housing units, which can distort the current state of the market.
