Rents up 5% as Mississauga remains second-most expensive city in Ontario

Rents continue to climb as Mississauga remains the fourth-most expensive city in Canada and second in Ontario.

The latest rent report is out and Mississauga kept its spot as the second-most expensive city in which to rent, topped only by Toronto in February.

Mississauga finished fourth out of 35 cities in Canada in the month of February, according to the latest monthly National Rent Report from Rentals.ca and Urbanation.

The average one-bedroom apartment rent was $2,294 in Mississauga, which was a 1.3 per cent decrease month-over-month but a 5.2 per cent increase year-over-year.

The average two-bedroom apartment rent was $2,722, which was a 0.3 per cent increase month-over-month, and a 4.3 per cent increase year-over-year.

Toronto’s average for a one-bedroom apartment is $2,495 and Oakville, with the fifth highest rents in Canada, sits at $2,268 for a one-bedroom apartment.

The cheapest city to rent in Ontario is Windsor where a one-bedroom apartment costs about $1,360.

Across Canada, the average asking rent for all property types increased 10.5 per cent annually to $2,193, the fastest annual growth since September 2023, according to the report.

Compared to February 2022, just before the onset of interest rate increases by the Bank of Canada, average asking rents in Canada have increased by 21 per cent, translating to a $384 per month increase.

“The rapid rate of rent growth in Canada is unrelenting,” said Shaun Hildebrand, president of Urbanation. “While some markets are experiencing a softening in rents, others are seeing an acceleration, with an underlying theme that rental supply remains grossly insufficient to meet current levels of demand.”

Purpose-built rental apartments saw a 14.4 per cent annual growth, reaching an average of $2,110 in February. Similarly, condominium rental apartments saw a five per cent year-over-year increase, with average asking rents of $2,372, while apartments in houses averaged asking rents of $2,347, rising by 5.3 per cent annually.

Canada’s largest and most expensive cities, Vancouver and Toronto, saw declines in asking rents compared to a year ago.

Alberta is seeing the fastest-growing rents with a whopping 20 per cent annual increase. Still a one-bedroom apartment is an average of $1,531, and a two-bedroom apartment hit $1,886 — much lower than Mississauga.

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.

Rentals.ca Network data is analyzed and the report is written by Urbanation, a Toronto-based real estate research firm providing in-depth market analysis and consulting services since 1981.

See the full February report here.

Lead photo: Karen Longwell