Rent prices have fallen across Canada, but not in Montreal — Here’s why

Montreal tenants have seen life get a lot more expensive over the past few years.

Along with inflation at the grocery store and an overall bump in the cost of living, rent prices have also been climbing, even as much of the country is finally getting a bit of relief. In fact, one report suggests that while rents are cooling across most of Canada, Montreal is still moving in the opposite direction.

According to liv.rent’s 2026 Rental Market Trend Report, which uses research from CMHC, the Bank of Canada, and Statistics Canada, the average price of an unfurnished one-bedroom in Montreal reached $1,693 in 2025, up 2.0% from the year before. That might not sound like much compared to other big cities, but it stands out against what was happening almost everywhere else in the country.

The report, released earlier this year, found that the average unfurnished one-bedroom fell 5.3% year-over-year in Vancouver, 5% across the Greater Toronto Area, 4.6% in Alberta and 3% in Ontario as a whole. B.C. as a province also dropped 5.3%. Montreal was one of the few markets liv.rent tracks where prices went up rather than down.

So, why is this happening?

The national slowdown may be related to shifting migration patterns. Fewer newcomers arrived in 2025 as federal immigration targets tightened, interprovincial moves slowed down, and a record number of people left the country altogether. And so, with less competition for units, rent prices eased in most major markets.

Quebec was more insulated from these changes than most provinces. The report notes the province held onto relatively stable immigration levels while other provinces saw steeper drops, which helped keep demand up and rents supported in Montreal even as the rest of the country softened.

Meanwhile, according to Statistics Canada figures, around 15,900 people left Quebec last year. That works out to just 13% of all departures from Canada, even though the province is home to about 22% of the country’s population.

Where you’re looking in the city also makes a big difference. Downtown remains the most expensive neighbourhood in the liv.rent data, with an average one-bedroom going for $1,890. On the other end, Hochelaga-Maisonneuve came in as the cheapest at $1,462.

Verdun and Westmount were flagged as Montreal’s most resilient markets, with Verdun posting the largest jump in furnished rents at 13.3% year-over-year. Three-bedroom furnished units in Verdun alone were up 19%.

Looking ahead, liv.rent expects Montreal rents to stay relatively stable in 2026, unlike Vancouver and the Greater Toronto Area, which the report pegs for further declines.

For context, the site bases its figures on current asking rents pulled from active listings, rather than the building-wide data used in some government reports, so its prices reflect what’s being advertised right now rather than what every tenant is paying.