While the annual dip is significant, prices aren’t down too much month-over-month for people in two-bedroom apartments. According to the report, rent has dipped 2.8 percent since last month. As for two-bedroom units, rents are down just 0.1 percent.

Year-over-year, the average rent for all property types listed on Rentals.ca is down by 8.1 percent in October. That said, an uptick was recorded in the average rent for all Canadian properties at 0.7 percent month over month to $1,782, after four months of almost no change.

The report says that while Canada’s major cities see declining rental rates, other secondary markets are seeing rents increase, with demand shifting geographically. Not unexpectedly, the pandemic has prompted tenants to seek larger, more affordable units outside of major cities—a trend amplified by the push to continue working remotely indefinitely.

The report says that municipalities in Ontario with the biggest growth in page views on Rentals.ca include Kingston, Guelph, Windsor, Barrie, Cambridge, Whitby, Brantford, Hamilton, Burlington and Woodstock.

According to the report, Toronto rents have continued to nosedive, with one-bedroom units down 17 percent year over year and declining every month since January and two-bedroom units down 14 percent annually and declining month by month since July.

Toronto finished second on the list of 35 cities for average monthly rent for a one-bedroom home in October at $1,922 and for average monthly rent for a two-bedroom at $2,531.

As far as other interesting trends go, the report also says that tenants have shown a greater interest in being close to parks and grocery stores in quiet neighbourhoods.

“The average rent in Canada trended up in October, which we partially attribute to an increase in new purpose-built rental apartment listings,” said Matt Danison, CEO of Rentals.ca, in the report.

“We continue to see an increase in listings nationally, which tells us that supply is outpacing demand. This market imbalance suggests soft rental market conditions will continue for the rest of the year.”

While cities might look a little more barren right now, the report suggests that Real Estate Investment Trusts, developers and institutional owners still believe downtowns will thrive again and the work-from-home phenomenon will lose its lustre. That said, quieter and more rural areas are still attracting more attention.

“Expect additional supply via completions and evictions, as landlord and tenant boards wade through the backlog, and government financial assistance programs are discontinued,” the report says.

The National Rent Report charts and analyzes monthly, quarterly and annual rates and trends in the rental market on a national, provincial, and municipal level across all listings on Rentals.ca for Canada.