Rents continued to fall across Canada in June, marking the ninth straight month of rent decreases across the country, the National Rent Report from Rentals.ca said on Tuesday.

The average asking rent for all residential properties in Canada fell by 2.7 per cent in June, compared with this time last year, to $2,125 a month. However, despite the continuous drop, rents remained 11.9 per cent higher than they were in June 2022 and 4.1 per cent higher than in June 2023.

The long-term rent increases are led largely by purpose-built rentals, which saw a 1.1 per cent decrease since last June but rose 9.8 per cent compared with this time three years ago.

Condo apartment rents are down 4.9 per cent and rents within houses and townhomes are down 6.6 per cent compared with June last year.

While rents for condos recorded a modest 1.6 per cent increase over three years, rents for houses and townhouses fell by 0.2 per cent compared with June 2022.

Across all property types, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units both saw rents fall 3.5 per cent compared with a year ago, while studio and three-bedroom rents both recorded a smaller 0.4 per cent annual decrease.

Studio rents rose 12.2 per cent compared with two years ago and 19.3 per cent compared with three years ago.

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The average asking rent in Saskatchewan rose 2.3 per cent to $1,446, while rents in Atlantic Canada rose 0.2 per cent to $2,155.

Alberta saw the steepest decline in rents, with average asking rents dropping six per cent to $1,844, and British Columbia followed with a 3.2 per cent drop to $2,150.

Ontario saw a rent decrease of 2.5 per cent to $2,358. Manitoba (1.2 per cent to $1,600) and Quebec ($1972) both saw rent declines.

Among Canada’s major cities, Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto led the charge in rent declines.

Calgary saw the biggest drop, with average asking rents dropping 9.8 per cent to $1,977.

Vancouver saw a drop of 6.5 per cent, but still remained Canada’s most expensive city to rent in, with $2,843 average asking rent. Toronto continues as the second-most expensive city to rent in at $2,592 a month, but with a monthly decline of 5.1 per cent.

Among Canada’s major cities, only Halifax saw an increase in rent (1.5 per cent to $2,267), while Regina saw no change ($1,472).

Montreal (2.5 per cent drop to $1,971), Winnipeg (1.9 per cent to $1,664) and Edmonton (1.2 per cent to $1,662) all saw rents decline.