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Edmonton Rental Market Data 2026 | Average Rent & Vacancy Rates

Updated

Edmonton rental market data

CMHC describes Edmonton’s rental market as softening in the year to the October 2025 survey. The vacancy rate for apartments in buildings of three or more units went up to 3.8% from 3.1%, and the rent for the same 2-bedroom units, measured in buildings surveyed in both years, rose 3.5%, after 7.0% the year before. The average 2-bedroom, across every occupied unit, rented for $1,603 a month. The survey methods behind these numbers are on the Canada rental market page.

Average rent by bedroom type

Unit typeAverage rent paid, all tenants (October 2025)Average asking rent, new tenants (second quarter of 2026)
Bachelor / studio$1,108$1,070
1 bedroom$1,302$1,260
2 bedroom$1,603$1,570
3 bedroom+$1,799$1,910

The first column is CMHC's average for occupied units in apartment buildings of six or more units, so it includes long-term tenants paying below-market rents. The second is Statistics Canada's average of listed rents, closer to what you'd be quoted if you moved now.

Rent and vacancy by survey zone

CMHC divides the Edmonton CMA into city zones, grouped into Core, West, South and North, plus St. Albert and a set of outlying municipalities. The table shows each group and selected zones (October 2025, privately initiated apartments in buildings of three or more units).

Edmonton area or zoneVacancy rateA year earlierAverage 2-bedroom rentAverage rent, all unitsUnits in the survey
Downtown5.4%5.3%$1,773$1,48317,925
University2.3%2.2%$1,667$1,4437,352
Edmonton Core (Zones 1-4)4.4%4.1%$1,667$1,42534,262
West Jasper Place5.3%1.7%$1,619$1,5336,551
West (Zones 5-6)4.6%2.2%$1,527$1,43010,966
Southwest2.0%1.9%$1,603$1,53511,992
Millwoods6.9%2.9%$1,653$1,6326,040
South (Zones 7-9)3.5%2.3%$1,594$1,52720,965
North Centralnot publishednot published$1,276$1,1704,872
North East1.1%1.6%$1,467$1,3825,256
Castledown2.9%0.9%$1,565$1,4784,466
North (Zones 10-12)2.6%2.0%$1,465$1,34214,594
Edmonton City (Zones 1-12)3.8%3.0%$1,581$1,43780,787
St. Albertnot publishednot published$1,939$1,8642,477
Fort Saskatchewan1.4%not published$1,536$1,5171,148
Strathcona County3.1%5.8%$1,913$1,8662,297
All Outlying Areas (Zones 14-19)2.1%2.7%$1,648$1,6217,331
Edmonton CMA3.8%3.1%$1,603$1,46490,595

Source: CMHC Rental Market Report data tables, Edmonton workbook. “Not published”: CMHC suppressed the figure or rated it poor (use with caution).

St. Albert had the highest 2-bedroom rent of any zone in the CMA and North Central the lowest; a St. Albert 2-bedroom cost $663 a month more. Downtown holds the most rental units of any zone, 17,925, about 20% of the CMA’s stock.

Vacancy differed widely across the region. Millwoods went from 2.9% to 6.9%, West Jasper Place from 1.7% to 5.3% and Castledown from 0.9% to 2.9%, the largest increases CMHC names, especially in newer 2-bedroom units. North East (1.1%), Fort Saskatchewan (1.4%) and Strathcona County (3.1%) stayed tighter, which CMHC ties to steady demand and modest new supply. Fort Saskatchewan was also the exception on rent: CMHC reports rents there rose 7.4% because little was built.

What is driving Edmonton rents

According to CMHC’s 2025 Rental Market Report, completions stayed well above historical averages while demand grew more slowly, held back by higher youth unemployment and fewer new households. Most of the new supply was 1- and 2-bedroom units in mid-rise buildings in the Downtown, West Central, West Jasper Place and Southwest zones. CMHC credits zoning and permit reforms, steady population growth and lower land costs for keeping construction high.

CMHC compared newer buildings with the whole stock and thinks their higher rents are slowing lease-up. A 2-bedroom completed in the period July 2022 to June 2025 averaged $1,976 across the CMA, 24% above the $1,598 average for the whole stock. In the core zones the newer units averaged $2,182 against $1,660, and in St. Albert $2,680 against $1,937. CMHC’s market contacts reported weaker demand for high-end units now that cheaper options are available.

Condominiums added to the supply too. The share of Edmonton condo apartments rented out long term rose to 36.6% from 33.4%, which CMHC says added about 2,015 rental units, mostly in the suburbs. Rented condos had a vacancy rate of 1.7%, and their average 2-bedroom rent was $1,655.

New tenants vs sitting tenants

A new tenant in an Edmonton 2-bedroom paid $1,600 a month, up from $1,560 a year earlier; CMHC names Edmonton, Ottawa and Montréal as the major centres where 2-bedroom turnover rents didn’t fall. Tenants who stayed paid $1,573, so moving in cost $27 more a month; the gap a year earlier was $73. CMHC links the narrower gap to landlords of new buildings offering competitive rents and short-term discounts. The turnover rate was 28.8% of units, against 26.5% a year earlier, and CMHC places most of the increase in zones with many new completions.

Vacancy rate trend

Edmonton vacancy rate, apartments in buildings of 6+ units (CMHC, October each year)

Source: CMHC Rental Market Survey via Statistics Canada table 34-10-0127.

What rent costs relative to income

CMHC considers housing affordable when it costs less than 30% of before-tax household income, counting the rent (or mortgage payments, property tax and condo fees) plus electricity, heat, water and other municipal services. The figures here count the rent alone, so with utilities the income needed is higher. To keep Edmonton’s average 2-bedroom rent within CMHC’s affordability line of 30% of gross income, a household needs $64,120 a year. The median Edmonton household reported $96,000 of total income in the census, for 2020; the rent threshold is 33% below it, though the income figure predates the rent survey by several years. On a new lease at Statistics Canada’s asking rent for a 2-bedroom, $1,570 in the second quarter of 2026, the same test gives $62,800. Try your own figures in the rent affordability calculator.

How Edmonton compares

In CMHC’s three-units-and-over survey, the Edmonton 2-bedroom average was 16% below Calgary’s $1,914, 5% below the Alberta figure of $1,680 and 3% above Canada’s $1,550. Among the 43 centres in CMHC’s table it ranked 19th-highest for 2-bedroom rent. Its vacancy rate compares with 4.3% for Alberta and 3.1% nationally, and CMHC groups Calgary and Edmonton as the major markets with the highest purpose-built vacancy rates.

Rules on rent increases in Edmonton

Alberta has no limit on rent increases; rent can go up once a year, with 3 full tenancy months' written notice for a month-to-month tenancy. Rent can be raised once a year (365 days) since the last increase or the start of the tenancy, not during a fixed-term lease. In Alberta a security deposit can't be more than one month's rent at the start of the tenancy, it can't be raised later, and the landlord holds it in a trust account and returns it with interest: within 10 days of move-out if nothing is deducted, or with a statement of account (or an estimate, then a final statement within 30 days) if something is.

More detail: the Alberta rental market page, the Alberta tenant rights guide, rent increase rules in every province and how to get a security deposit back.

Sources

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