Kitchener-Waterloo rental market data
CMHC treats Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge as one rental market, the Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo metro area, and breaks it down by zone. Its October 2025 vacancy rate for apartments in buildings of three or more units was 4.1%, against 3.6% a year earlier. CMHC does not count that change as statistically significant and describes the rate as steady at a multi-decade high. The average 2-bedroom rent was $1,832, and for units in the sample both years it went up 3.3%. For the difference between CMHC’s survey and listing prices, see how these figures are measured.
Average rent by bedroom type
| Unit type | Average rent paid, all tenants (October 2025) | Average asking rent, new tenants (second quarter of 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Bachelor / studio | $1,261 | $1,470 |
| 1 bedroom | $1,548 | $1,740 |
| 2 bedroom | $1,834 | $2,120 |
| 3 bedroom+ | $1,995 | $2,410 |
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.
Asking rents in the region have been easing: Statistics Canada’s 2-bedroom listing average of $2,120 for the second quarter of 2026 compares with $2,160 a year before (−1.9%), and 1-bedroom listings went from $1,820 to $1,740.
Rent and vacancy in Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge
The zone table below is CMHC’s (October 2025, apartments in structures of three or more units). Kitchener is split into three zones and also shown combined; Waterloo and Cambridge are one zone each.
| Area | Vacancy rate | Average 2-bedroom rent | Average rent, all units | Apartments surveyed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kitchener East | 3.7% | $1,650 | $1,538 | 11,455 |
| Kitchener Central | 3.3% | $1,863 | $1,650 | 5,000 |
| Kitchener West | 7.4% | $1,846 | $1,750 | 6,326 |
| City of Kitchener (the zones above) | 4.7% | $1,748 | $1,626 | 22,781 |
| Waterloo | 3.4% | $1,917 | $1,865 | 10,185 |
| Cambridge | 3.5% | $1,978 | $1,907 | 6,115 |
| Three Townships | 2.5% | $1,437 | $1,327 | 912 |
| Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo CMA | 4.1% | $1,832 | $1,726 | 39,993 |
Source: CMHC Rental Market Report data tables, Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo workbook, Tables 1.1.1 to 1.1.3.
Cambridge had the highest average 2-bedroom rent of the six zones, $1,978, with Waterloo at $1,917 and the City of Kitchener at $1,748. Across all units, Waterloo’s average rent of $1,865 was $239 more than Kitchener’s. Kitchener West had the highest vacancy, 7.4% (from 4.8%), and in Waterloo the rate moved from 2.6% to 3.4%. These are the two zones CMHC names as having higher vacancy in its commentary, and both increases are marked statistically significant in its tables.
Students, tariffs and new supply
CMHC’s Rental Market Report explains the region’s steady overall vacancy as a mix of opposing moves:
- The study-permit cap thinned student demand. Waterloo, home to the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University, saw its vacancy rise as the federal cap on international study permits kept reducing demand. Kitchener West, where supply grew faster than the metro average, was the other zone with more empty units.
- A tariff-exposed economy. CMHC calls the region one of Ontario’s most tariff-exposed economies, with many jobs in motor vehicle and parts manufacturing, and says economic weakness cut rental demand across the metro area.
- Incentives at the top end. High-end units had lower vacancy, which CMHC attributes to landlords offering incentives such as 1 to 2 months of free rent.
- More units, few of them cheap. The purpose-built apartment stock grew 2.8%, but most new units were out of reach for lower-income renters; the least expensive units had a vacancy rate under 1%. Middle-income renters did gain room to move up, and the turnover rate rose to 16.1% from 12.0%.
Rented condos are tight by comparison. CMHC counted 5,676 condo apartments in the rental pool (31.7% of the area’s condo apartments), with a vacancy rate of 0.8% and a 2-bedroom average of $2,197, 20% above the purpose-built figure.
What a move costs: new vs sitting tenants
A tenant who took over a 2-bedroom in the past year paid $2,111 on average in October 2025, down from $2,137. A tenant who stayed paid $1,768. Moving into a 2-bedroom therefore cost $343 a month more than staying put, and a 1-bedroom $281 more (new lease $1,743, existing lease $1,462).
Vacancy rate trend
Kitchener-Waterloo vacancy rate, apartments in buildings of 6+ units (CMHC, October each year)
Source: CMHC Rental Market Survey via Statistics Canada table 34-10-0127.
Household income and a Kitchener-Waterloo 2-bedroom
Under the 30% shelter-cost benchmark CMHC uses, the metro area’s average 2-bedroom rent of $1,832 calls for a before-tax household income of $73,280. The median household in the Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo CMA reported $92,000 to the census for 2020, owners included, so the threshold is 20% below the median. A new lease at the $2,120 asking rent would take $84,800, 8% below it. Bear in mind the census income dates from 2020. The rent affordability calculator tests a specific rent against a specific income.
How the region compares
Measured on CMHC’s three-units-and-over survey, the region’s 2-bedroom average sat 0.3% above Ontario’s $1,827 and 18% above Canada’s $1,550, the third-highest among Ontario’s 16 surveyed centres and eighth-highest of 43 across the country. Nearby Guelph averaged $1,802 and London $1,651. Vacancy here was higher than the provincial 3.2% and higher than the national 3.1%.
Rules on rent increases in Kitchener-Waterloo
Ontario's rent increase guideline is 2.1% for 2026 (units first occupied after November 15, 2018 are exempt). Increases are allowed once every 12 months and need at least 90 days' written notice. In Ontario the only deposit a landlord can collect is a rent deposit, no more than one month's rent (or one rent period, if that is shorter); it must be applied to the last rent period before the tenancy ends, and the landlord pays interest on it every year at the rent increase guideline rate.
The Ontario rental market page lists the guideline for each year. Tenant protections are in the Ontario tenant rights guide; for other provinces see rent increase rules by province and getting a security deposit back.
Related pages
- Waterloo Region Housing Market: home prices across the region
- Kitchener-Waterloo Income Percentiles: household income data
- London Rental Market: another Ontario market shaped by students
- Ontario Rental Market: every surveyed Ontario centre
Sources
- CMHC Rental Market Report data tables, Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo workbook: zone rents, vacancy and units
- CMHC Rental Market Report data tables: national Tables 1.0, 4.2 and 6.0
- CMHC Rental Market Report, major centres: Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo commentary
- Statistics Canada table 34-10-0133 and 34-10-0127: rents and vacancy, six units and over
- Statistics Canada table 46-10-0092: quarterly asking rents
- Statistics Canada table 98-10-0061: census household income