Monthly rent rises sharply in Mississauga and across most of the country

Renting a place to live in Mississauga — and across the country for that matter — is getting significantly more expensive these days, the latest numbers from a Canada-wide rent report show.

Rentals.ca and Urbanation’s most-recent National Rent Report lists Mississauga as the fifth-most expensive city in Canada and third in Ontario in which to rent one- and two-bedroom units on a monthly basis (see chart below).

With an average monthly rent in September of $2,358 for a one-bedroom and $2,851 for a two-bedroom, Mississauga ranks behind only Vancouver ($2,976 and $3,908), Burnaby, B.C. ($2,700 and $3,411), Toronto ($2,614 and $3,411) and Oakville ($2,502 and $3,382) on the list of 35 cities.

Year over year, average monthly rent in September for a one-bedroom in Mississauga was up 15.5 per cent and up 17.8 per cent for a two-bedroom, the report shows.

Rounding out the top 10 most expensive for September 2023 rent are Markham, Richmond Hill, Etobicoke, Guelph and Burlington.

On a national level, according to the report, the average asking rent hit new heights with a month-over-month increase of 1.5 per cent to bring the average rent to $2,149.

That’s a year-over-year growth of 11.1 per cent, pushing the annual rate of rent inflation to a nine-month high, authors of the report say.

However, the news isn’t all bad for renters.

“While rent inflation in Canada remained exceptionally strong in September, most major markets experienced a slower annual rate of rent growth compared to recent months,” said Shaun Hildebrand, president of Urbanation. “This was particularly true in Toronto, where rents grew by their slowest pace in two years.”

One-bedroom apartments recorded the most substantial annual growth in asking rents, according to the latest figures, reaching 15.5 per cent, with an average rent of $1,905.

Two-bedroom apartments, by comparison, saw a year-over-year increase of 13.1 per cent, averaging $2,268, while three-bedroom units rose by 11.4 per cent to an average of $2,514.

Studio apartments, representing the most affordable option, experienced annual rent growth of 11.3 per cent, with an average rent of $1,511.

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.

Data from the digital rental platform Rentfaster.ca is incorporated into the report.

The report is written by Urbanation, a Toronto-based real estate research firm providing in-depth market analysis and consulting services since 1981.

Chart shows the top 15 most-expensive Canadian cities in which to rent housing in September 2023. (Source: National Rent Report)