Edmonton's rent growth is spiking like Calgary's did in 2023

A new rent report from Zumper has revealed that Edmonton is leading the pack when it comes to rapidly rising rental costs, with just two other Canadian cities seeing similar growth recently.

The May Canadian Rent Report from Zumper shows that Edmonton once again experienced the highest rent growth in the country, jumping 23.9% compared to last year.

Only two other cities have experienced a spike similar to Edmonton’s recently. Zumper told Daily Hive that in December 2023, Québec City had the largest annual growth rate at  21.6%, still lower than Edmonton’s current 23.9%.

In October 2023, Calgary saw the most significant annual growth rate, up 26%.

“Overall, 13 cities saw rent rise, three stayed flat, and seven fell on a monthly basis,” Zumper writes.

“It seems rent prices across many Canadian cities are beginning to pick up again as we head into the warmer months and renters begin to move, creating more demand and competition.”

Edmonton is 21st out of 23 on Zumper’s list of Canada’s most expensive cities for renters. On average, a one-bedroom apartment costs $1,350 monthly, a 2.3% increase over last month.

Vancouver remains Canada’s most expensive city for renters, with a one-bedroom costing $2,660 monthly. It’s a 0.4% increase over last month and a 2.3% increase in price compared to last year.

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Alberta is one of a handful of Canadian provinces that does not have a rent control policy, and there are no limits to how much a landlord may increase the rent. However, there are some rules in the Residential Tenancies Act on how and when rent can be increased.

In neighbouring BC, which has the highest rental prices in the country, rent control policies limit annual rent increases for tenants, currently capped at 3.5%.

However, when a renter leaves a unit, there are no legal limits on how much a landlord can increase the price for a new renter.

The Zumper Canadian Rent Report analyzes rental data from hundreds of thousands of active listings nationwide.

Listings are then aggregated monthly to calculate median asking rents for the top 23 most populous metro areas.