The average rent across all property types in Hamilton was $2,080 in August, which is up 5.4 per cent compared to last month, according to the latest Rentals.ca and Urbanation market update.
It means that the City of Hamilton continues to rank as the 14th most expensive place for rent across all property types out of the 25 cities measured.
The increase in Hamilton comes as the Canada-wide average rent declined for the 11th straight month, decreasing by 2.3 per cent.
A press release notes that this is the longest stretch of rent declines since the early pandemic period.
Despite the decrease, a year-by-year analysis from 2020 to 2025 is included in the report and shows that the annual change in average asking rent in Canada decreased by 5.5 per cent in 2020 and then increased for four straight years by 0.3 per cent, 12 per cent, 9.6 per cent, and 3.3 per cent respectively before declining by 2.3 per cent so far this year.
Shaun Hildebrand, President of Urbanation, says, “Rents have decreased in Canada on an annual basis for almost a year now. However, rent reductions have been mild for the most part, with the steepest declines found in Vancouver, Toronto, and Calgary, where rents are high and new apartment supply has been growing quickly.”
Broken down by unit type, the average one-bedroom rent in Hamilton is $1,790, which is down 1.1 per cent compared to last month but up 0.2 per cent year-over-year.
Meanwhile, the average two-bedroom unit is $2,148, which is up 0.7 per cent month-over-month but down 1.7 per cent year-over-year.
For one-bedroom rent, out of the 60 cities measured, Hamilton now ranks as the 34th most expensive.
It should be noted that the previous ranking mentioned was across all property types.
The top five most expensive cities for one-bedroom rents are North Vancouver, Vancouver, Toronto, Oakville, and Burnaby.
The following cities near Hamilton are all more expensive for one-bedroom rents: Oakville ranks fourth most expensive at $2,286, Burlington is 12th at $2,119, Waterloo is 21st at $2,037, Cambridge is 28th at $1,926, Kitchener is 31st at $1,821, and Brantford is 32nd at $1,819.
Nearby cities that are less expensive for one-bedroom rents are Niagara Falls (38th at $1,721), St. Catharines (42nd at $1,686), and Welland (44th at $1,641).
REPORT DATA
The data used in the Rentals.ca analysis is based on monthly listings from the Rentals.ca Network of Internet Listings Services (ILS).
The rankings and report are written by the real estate research firm Urbanation.
The data differs from the numbers collected and published by the Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation (CMHC).
The Rentals.ca Network of ILS’s data covers both the primary and secondary rental markets and includes basement apartments, rental apartments, condominium apartments, townhouses, semi-detached houses, and single-detached houses.
Outlier listings and single room rentals are excluded from the data.
The report’s writers say that CMHC rental rates are reflective of what the average household spends on rental housing and not the current market rents for vacant units.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
