Vancouver is Canada’s most expensive city to rent in; we’ve known it for years, but a recent Rentals.ca report highlights another dubious honour.
Rents are continuing to fall, and Rentals.ca says that Toronto and Vancouver rents have fallen to their lowest point in nearly four years.
However, it appears that unit sizes have also been decreasing, and Rentals.ca says that “affordability still feels out of reach” for many renters.
While the price per square foot has remained pretty stable compared to last year, renters are receiving less space.
Across Canada, the average unit size fell from 754 sq. ft. in 2024, to 737 sq. ft. in 2025, to 719 sq. ft. in 2026.
Unsurprisingly, for many Vancouver renters, the city leads Canada with the smallest average unit size. Meanwhile, folks in Calgary and Edmonton, who are paying much less than Vancouver residents, are finding larger rentals to live in.
Rentals.ca
Vancouver also leads Canada for rent per square foot, at $4.11 per sq. ft. Toronto is the next most expensive city for rent per square foot, but it isn’t even close to Vancouver, at $3.52 per square foot.
“Vancouver renters now pay more than $4 per square foot, the highest in Canada and more than double the price seen in some prairie markets, despite multiple years of declining rents,” Rentals.ca says.
The report calls it the “affordability trade-off,” where renters are finding less space for the same budget.
Rentals.ca also provides some potential reasons why apartments are getting smaller, like new housing supply skewing toward smaller units.
“Much of the recent housing supply in Canada’s largest cities has come from condominium developments, where studios and one-bedroom units represent a growing share of new inventory,” the report says.
It also points to developer economics, as smaller units allow developers to maximize the number of homes in a building, while still keeping the price accessible.
“In addition, the size of a rental unit directly affects development charges. In Toronto, development charges for purpose-built rental units are significantly higher for larger units.”
So while rent may be decreasing, so is the amount of space renters have to work with.
“For renters balancing cost, space, and location, the true cost of renting may be measured not only by monthly rent but also by the amount of space that rent provides,” the report adds.