St. Catharines sees April to May one-bedroom rent hikes stay at zero

When 35 communities across Canada were studied to see the levels of the April-to-May rent hikes for one-bedroom units, St. Catharines was one of just three that saw a zero per cent difference.

When one-bedroom rent hikes from April-to-May were measured by rental.ca, St. Catharines stayed even at $1,671/month. However, compared to May 2022, the rent jumped 10 per cent exactly.

Two-bedroom units in St. Catharines also faired well, actually dropping 0.7 per cent from April for an average of $1,956/month. As well, compared to May 2022, there was only a 2.9 per cent hike over the year.

As well as St. Catharines, only Surrey. B.C. and Kitchener saw a zero per cent difference between April and May for one-bedroom units. In total, six cities actually saw slight drops.

St. Catharines was also well below the national average of $1,828/month for one-bedrooms and $2,243/month for two-bedrooms in May.

In the end of the 35 cities studied, 21 of them had one-bedroom units above the national average and 19 were above the two-bedroom average.

“Higher rents are on the horizon with interest rates at a 22-year high, rising home prices and record immigration,” said Matt Danison, CEO of Rentals.ca Network.

“Gen Z could become the ‘Boomerang Generation’ moving back in with the parents or the ‘Roommate Generation’ splitting rent as it’s unaffordable for many Canadians to pay rent on their own. Governments at all levels need to come up with creative solutions to increase housing supply.”