Canadian renters looking to relocate are facing a costly reality, according to new findings from Statistics Canada’s Canadian Housing Survey. The data shows that tenants who moved into a new rental in the two years leading up to 2024 are paying significantly more each month than those who have stayed put, even as many renters across the country remain stuck in homes that no longer suit their household’s needs.
StatCan reports that the average monthly rent for tenants who moved in that period was $1,740, compared to $1,290 for sitting tenants who had lived in their homes for at least two years. That amounts to a $450 monthly gap, or roughly $5,400 more per year, for renters who recently changed addresses.
Affordability Gap Widens for Recent Movers
The agency’s research also found that 40% of recent movers were living in unaffordable housing as of 2024 — meaning they spent 30% or more of their pre-tax household income on rent — compared to 32% of sitting tenants. Recent movers were also more likely to report financial strain tied to rising rents, at 44.5%, versus 33.5% for tenants who hadn’t recently moved. Dissatisfaction with housing affordability followed a similar pattern, with 45.5% of recent movers expressing dissatisfaction compared to 24.4% of sitting tenants.
StatCan noted that this divide has grown since 2018, when the share of tenants reporting financial difficulty due to rent increases rose by 27.0 percentage points among recent movers and 16.5 percentage points among sitting tenants — a trend the agency says has widened the gap between the two groups in recent years. More than one in ten Canadians are currently living in what StatCan defines as core housing need, meaning their housing is unaffordable, lacks sufficient bedrooms, or requires major repairs, while alternative housing in their community remains out of reach financially.
Homes Not Sized for Renters’ Needs
Beyond affordability, a separate analysis of the same survey data from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) points to a mismatch between the housing renters currently occupy and what they say they need. CMHC found that renters live in dwellings with an average of 1.9 bedrooms but say they would prefer 2.6 bedrooms — a difference of about 37%.
The disparity is far more pronounced among renters in what CMHC classifies as “unsuitable housing,” defined as homes without enough bedrooms for the size and composition of the household. Those renters currently occupy dwellings with an average of 1.8 bedrooms but aspire to 3.3 bedrooms, an 84% gap.
CMHC said this shortfall reflects how far existing housing stock falls short of meeting the bedroom needs of renter households, pointing in particular to what it described as a rise in overcrowded housing in high-rent markets such as Toronto and Vancouver.
What the Numbers Suggest
Taken together, the StatCan and CMHC findings illustrate a rental market in which staying in place offers a clear financial advantage, even as many tenants remain in homes that don’t match their household’s size or needs. The data suggests renters are increasingly caught between the higher costs tied to moving and the practical drawbacks of staying in housing that doesn’t fit.
This article references reporting from:
