Market update Aug 2025: Sales a carbon copy of May, rents keep cooling

Month after month, rents are still trending down and incentives are on the rise, both in Ontario and across Canada. The root cause remains unchanged: supply continues to outpace demand.

• According to Rentals.ca, the average national asking rent fell $4 from May to $2,125 in June.

• Rents have declined year over year for nine months in a row including in June – but are still up 4.1% compared to two years ago, and 11.9% over three years ago.

• Average asking rents for purpose-built and condo apartments in Ontario fell 2.3% year over year to $2,329.

• Outside of Toronto, Oakville and Richmond Hill had the highest average apartment rents in the province ($2,605 and $2,565).

• Meanwhile, the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) reports an average national home price of $691,643 in June – virtually unchanged since May and down 0.7% year over year.

• Ontario continues to have among the highest average home prices in the country (second only to British Columbia) at $852,036 – down 1.1% from last month’s average.

• According to CREA, home sales were up 2.8% from May to June.

• Two more provinces have shifted into seller’s market territory since May, based on their sales-to-new-listings ratios, bringing the total to six. Two remain balanced, while Ontario continues to stand alone as a firm buyer’s market.

• “At the national level, June was pretty close to a carbon copy of May,” says Shaun Cathcart, CREA’s Senior Economist. “It’s another month of data suggesting the anticipated rebound in Canadian housing markets may have only been delayed by a few months.”

• The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) reports the six-month trend in housing starts was increased 3.6% from 243,407 in May to 253,081 in June.

More rental market headlines

Ontario lowers 2026 rent cap to 2.1%, tightest in four years – Storeys

The decline of young families in urban Ontario – PayProp blog

Toronto tenants win fight over rental increase they argue was for redevelopment costs – CBC