Rent prices soaring in Waterloo region and across Canada

The increase in immigration and rising interest rates is putting more pressure on renters.

A new report from rentals.ca says the average asking price for a rental unit in Canada reached $2,042 last month, surpassing the previous record set in November 2022 by 0.9 per cent.

“The rental market is certainly under a lot of pressure, so broader supply and demand imbalances continue to keep competition quite fierce," Rachel Battaglia, economist, at RBC Economics said.

“We could end up in a situation where long-time residents of particular cities and neighborhoods are unable to stay in their community, we could also see rise in the number of people and families that are living in inadequate housing."

Renters here in Waterloo region are well aware of the crisis.

"The prices are nuts. You can get by without a car but you can't get by without an apartment, a place to sleep," one person told CTV Kitchener on Friday.

The average asking price for a one-bedroom now surpasses $2,000 in each of the tri-cities and Guelph.

	Average rent	Year over year increase
Cambridge	$2,312	4.6%
Kitchener	$2,132	6.4%
Waterloo	$2,002	8.9 %
Guelph	$2,378	11 %

"We have landlords whose monthly payments are increasing and rental markets that are exceptionally tight, and are tight enough to tolerate landlord passing down those higher costs onto their tenants, which is one reason why you're seeing those rents increase so rapidly," said Doug Hoyes, insolvency trustee at Hoyes Michalos and Associates.

Battaglia says demand for rental units is being driven by Canada’s rapid population growth. Growth in the second quarter of this year was its fastest pace since the 1950s, she said.

"That increase is largely made up of international immigrants who do tend to make up a disproportionately high share of occupied rental units when we compare that to the Canadian born population," Battaglia said.

Some residents say if rent doesn’t settle down soon, they may have to leave the region all together.