Montreal rent prices have jumped 70% in the last decade

This is Part 1 of the Gazette series Renting Montreal.

Montreal rent prices have surged in recent decades, but the past 10 years have seen the fastest-growing rents to date.

In 2006, the average cost of rent for a Montrealer was $617 per month, according to data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). Between 2006 and 2016, the cost of rent climbed 23 per cent to an average of $761.

Since then, prices have changed dramatically: CMHC data shows the average cost of rent in Montreal spiked to $1,291 in October 2025 – a 70 per cent increase since 2016.

Montreal’s sharp rent increase in the last decade largely represents a catch-up to other large Canadian cities that have long had, and continue to have, dramatically higher rents, according to David Wachsmuth, Canada Research Chair in Urban Governance at McGill University.

“It is important context that this catch-up is happening throughout the province as well. If you look at the regions in Canada where rents are rising the fastest, they’re all in Quebec,” Wachsmuth said in an interview.

Rising rents are hitting certain neighbourhoods harder than others, with some historically working-class or middle-class neighbourhoods gentrifying at a faster rate.

In the neighbourhood of Villeray, for example, rents jumped from $675 in 2016 to $1,439 in 2025. And in Montreal’s Sud-Ouest borough, known for neighbourhoods Griffintown, Saint-Henri, and Little Burgundy, average rents have climbed from $702 in 2016 to $1,434 in 2025. The CMHC does not have neighbourhood-specific data available that dates back to 2006.

Historically, Montreal maintained low rents relative to other Canadian cities, partly thanks to the city ceding its position to Toronto as the main economic engine of the country during the Quiet Revolution and the October Crisis, Wachsmuth said.

Montreal’s urban design is also unique, Wachsmuth added, with most rentable residences being low-rise apartments which are “much more amenable to low rents” compared to the detached single-family homes and high-rise condos of Toronto and Vancouver.

“It’s a combination of a lot of supply of moderate size and moderate price units, and then also stagnating demand because of economic and political reasons,” he said.

Beyond catch-up, other factors putting upward pressure on the rental market over the last decade include an increasing rate of expensive renovations and new builds, along with population growth.

The years surrounding COVID-19 saw a record population growth and low housing vacancy rates in Montreal, largely due to immigration, according to Francis Cortellino, a housing economist for the CMHC.

“The demand was higher than the supply. So you have a lot of tenants looking for the same apartments,” Cortellino said in an interview.

“I would say the economic and demographic environment during 2006, 2016 was quite different than what we had in the last few years,” he added, noting that inflation during those years was more “in control.”

Population growth has declined sharply in the Montreal region since the federal and provincial government cracked down on immigration in 2024, which Cortellino says has softened the rental market competition for tenants in the last two years.

“Landlords are fighting for the same tenants right now, because there’s no more coming from elsewhere. Everybody’s fighting to attract the same pool of tenants. So this is why now the competition is among landlords to attract tenants, and before the competition was among tenants.”

For the first time in decades, Cortellino says this year, landlords are either keeping rents the same or, in some cases, lowering the price from the previous year.

And while the gap between Montreal rent prices compared to Toronto and Vancouver is narrower than it used to be, the gap is still “very big,” Wachsmuth said.

“Toronto and Vancouver, their housing markets right now are in pretty substantial crisis,” he added, acknowledging that Montreal’s spike in homeless encampments and rental prices outpacing a rise in income are both indicators of tough times for renters.

“It’s rarely been harder to afford a home. It’s never been harder for a lot of people. That certainly sounds like a crisis.”

Part 2 of Renting Montreal will publish on Sunday, May 24.

Leora Schertzer

Leora Schertzer is a reporter at the Montreal Gazette who thrives on the chase. Whether it’s producing a documentary about sewage or investigating a Nazi gold scandal, it’s the novelty and adrenaline that keep her in this challenging industry. Send her tips at [email protected].

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