Mississauga second-most expensive Ontario city in which to rent

Renters in Mississauga face the second-highest rates in Ontario, according to the latest rent report.

The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Mississauga was $2,371 in June, according to the July National Rent Report from Rentals.ca and Urbanation. This represents a 1.4 per cent increase from last month, and a 0.4 per cent compared to this time last year.

The rent for a two-bedroom unit comes in at $2,778, a 2.8 per cent increase month-over-month but a 1.5 per cent drop compared to this time last year.

These numbers make Mississauga the second most expensive city to rent in Ontario, second only to Toronto. Across Canada, Vancouver tops the list with one-bedroom units going for $2,724. Burnaby is second with one-bedroom rents at $2,543.

While rents remain high, the report suggests a cooling in the market.

Average asking rents for all residential property types in Canada increased by seven per cent year-over-year in June, reaching an average of $2,185 per month, according to the report. This represents the slowest annual rate of growth in 13 months.

On a month-over-month basis, average asking rents decreased by 0.8 per cent across Canada, marking the largest decline since early 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, and reversing the typical seasonal trend of rising rents at this time of year.

“Rents at the national level are clearly levelling out,” said Shaun Hildebrand, president of Urbanation. “At this stage of the market, strong rent increases are mainly limited to inexpensive cities, particularly in the Canadian Prairies, while larger markets dealing with severe affordability issues are seeing rents slow or fall.”

Rents for purpose-built and condominium rental apartments fell by one per cent in June from the previous month, averaging $2,146.

Year-over-year, apartment rents increased by nine per cent driven by an 11 per cent rise in purpose-built rental rates, which now average $2,121.

In contrast, condominium apartment rents saw a 2.6 per cent increase, averaging $2,320. In addition, studio rents for condominiums dropped by 5.1 per cent annually to $1,823, while purpose-built studio rents surged by 14.6 per cent to $1,613.

Renters looking for a cheaper option in the GTA may want to consider Durham Region. Oshawa is currently the cheapest GTA city to rent.

In Ontario, Windsor had the lowest rents at $1,530 for a one-bedroom unit.

The National Rent Report charts and analyzes monthly, quarterly and annual rates and trends in the rental market on national, provincial, and municipal levels across all listings on the Rentals.ca Network for Canada. The data from the digital rental platform Rentfaster.ca is incorporated into this report.

See the full July report here.