Key Highlights:
- Single-family rental (SFR) households jumped almost 15% nationwide, outpacing the growth in multifamily renter (MFR) households (9.4%). Priced out of homeownership, more renters seek space, flexibility, and home-like comfort without buying.
- 10 cities with more than 50% growth in SFR households: Eight Ontario cities and two in Québec are driving the house renting surge, with Markham (up nearly 70%), Mirabel and Richmond Hill seeing the largest increases in single-family rental households.
- Even big cities want backyards: Canada’s largest urban hubs recorded the highest net gains in house renting. Ottawa, Calgary and Toronto each added over 8,800 new single-family renter households.
- Solo renters are renting bigger: One-person households in single-family rentals increased by 19.6% — nearly double that of those in apartments. Alberta’s Calgary and Edmonton each saw about 2,500 more solo SFR households.
Tightening mortgage costs, rising interest rates, and shifting lifestyle preferences have propelled the number of renter households to grow at twice the pace of homeowner households between the 2016 and 2021 Census reports. While apartments remain the backbone of the nation’s rental supply, single-family rentals are gaining ground. And not only are more Canadians renting houses, but many are also doing it alone.
Canada added half a million renter households in just five years, bringing the total to nearly 5 million. Per the latest Census, the share of renter households nationwide surpassed 33%, the highest level recorded yet. Although the multifamily sector dominates the country’s rental landscape, more and more people are turning to single-family rentals or SFRs (such as detached, semi-detached, row homes or townhouses for rent).
In Canada’s largest cities, houses originally built for owners are increasingly becoming rental stock, often due to affordability challenges or investor demand. According to Statistics Canada, newly constructed dwellings are more likely to be rented. Specifically, more than half (55.1%) of those built in Montréal from 2016 to 2021 were rented in 2021, followed by Toronto and Vancouver with over 42%. But, beyond new builds, SFRs in the big city have come to offer a balance between cost, space and quality of living. What’s more, Point2Homes discovered that solo house renters are playing a bigger role than ever, potentially reshaping what rental life looks like in the country.
Largest Canadian Cities Mirror Nationwide Increase in SFR Compared to MFR
According to Statistics Canada, more than 40% of the homes built between 2016 and 2021 were occupied by renters at the time of the last Census, the highest tenant rate since the 1960s.
Once seen as a stepping stone to homeownership or a temporary phase, renting is turning into a long-term reality for many Canadians — not always by choice, but because they are locked out of the buying market. Overall, renting has become more ubiquitous, with nearly all of Canada’s 100 largest cities showing growth in both single-family and multifamily renter households.
However, the national share of SFR households went from 25.5% in 2016 to 26.4% in 2021, growing at a faster rate than MFR households. And, since buying a house in the big city is too far off for most, single-family rentals have become the next best alternative to owning.
Of course, the idea of flexibility and less responsibility sounds nice, but these perks are at the bottom of renters’ checklists. Rather, the cost-burdened reality is that renting (especially a single-family home) is often a way to avoid the massive upfront costs of buying a home and the financial commitment of a mortgage.
In fact, renting has become a necessary adjustment, and often the only way to live in desirable areas without spending a fortune. And, as housing options become increasingly limited, individuals are forced to rethink their living arrangements. According to Dr. Nathanael Lauster, associate professor of sociology at the University of British Columbia:
The historical trend in Canada has been that people want to form independent households. But when housing is scarce and expensive, they adapt by living in ways they wouldn’t otherwise choose”.
As such, house renting is gaining ground even in apartment-heavy cities like Toronto and Vancouver. Percentage-wise, single-family renter households in both of these urban hubs increased nearly four times as much as multifamily renter households did. Similarly, in Brampton, ON, SFR households (up 44.4%) grew eight times faster than MFR households (up 5.5%).
With high home prices and rising mortgage rates, renting in bigger cities isn’t just more doable — it’s often the only feasible option. And, it’s not only families who are turning to house renting. More people living alone are choosing to rent houses instead of apartments.
Ontario Claims 8 of 10 Cities with Highest Increases in Single-Family Households
Over 60% more SFR households in Markham, Richmond Hill & Oakville
What was once viewed primarily as a suburban trend is now reshaping rental patterns in the city. In just five years, single-family renter households in 10 major cities had growth rates ranging from 50% to 70%.
Closely linked to the broader rise of rentership in Ontario, eight cities in the province recorded some of the highest increases in SFR households:
The growing appeal of house rentals over apartments is making the most impact in Markham (up 69.5%), Richmond Hill and Oakville — GTA cities just outside of Toronto’s high-cost core — and in Mirabel, a clear example of a Québec market where renters are drawn to more affordable, spacious options beyond manic Montréal.
In contrast, the percentage growth in multifamily renter households has been more modest between the Census years: Only Airdrie, AB, and Waterloo, ON, experienced increases of more than 50% in MFR households.
Even Canadians Renting Alone Are Increasingly Choosing Houses Over Apartments
Surge in solo single-family renter households in Vaughan, ON, Brossard & Saint-Hyacinthe, QC
A Point2Homes study revealed that more Canadians are living alone than ever before. Per the last Census, the number of people living by themselves has doubled in the last 30 years, reaching 4.4 million. And tenants have been a big part of that shift: Solo renters grew at twice the pace of solo homeowners and now make up more than half of all one-person households in Canada.
The situation is similar in 40 large cities, where renters are now the majority of one-person households. Granted, apartments still lead when it comes to solo renters, but the growing demand for house rentals is hard to miss.
In 15 cities, the number of one-person households renting single-family homes jumped by 50% to more than 82%. By comparison, only two cities (Airdrie and St. Albert, AB) saw similar growth among solo apartment renters.
In Vaughan, ON, one-person single-family renter households surged by 82.4%, far outpacing the 30.3% growth seen among solo apartment renters. The same kind of growth can be seen in Québec’s Brossard and Saint-Hyacinthe, and even in the densest cities: In Vancouver, solo renters in houses increased by 42.1%, while growth in the multifamily segment lagged at 7.7%. The pattern also holds in Toronto, where one-person SFR households rose by 25.2%, compared to 5.6% in solo one-person MFR households.
Still, Apartment Renting Wins the Numbers Game
Montréal & Toronto boast 20k+ net increases in multifamily renter households
Between Census years, 479,300 new rental households were added Canada-wide, leading to record numbers. And, despite the faster growth rate of SFRs, net gains paint a different picture: Apartment units remain the primary choice for many renters, as those five years brought about 167,700 single-family rental households versus nearly 310,200 multifamily.
Although single-family renter households are growing quickly in terms of percentage, they were fewer to begin with. As a result, large percentage increases might translate to smaller absolute numbers compared to multifamily renter households. With apartments already claiming a much larger presence, the net gains in multifamily renter households are higher even if their growth rate is slower.
Throughout five years, Montréal and Toronto each added more than 23,000 multifamily renter households — a growth supported by both cities’ continued investment in apartment development. Local zoning policies also work in favor of higher-density housing and large-scale projects aimed at meeting strong rental demand.
In comparison, the highest bumps in the number of single-family renter households were around 8,800 in Ottawa and Calgary, encouraged by fast-growing populations, more suburban housing and rising interest in roomier rentals.
The country’s prevalence of one-person households and child-free couples aligns with the suitability of apartment living. Reasons range from their wider availability, comparable affordability, and fit with urban living preferences. However, with housing prices still sky-high and homeownership increasingly out of reach for many Canadians, renting a house has emerged as a practical and appealing alternative — no longer just a fallback, but a deliberate long-term choice.
Methodology
As one of the top listing portals for rental homes in the Canadian market, Point2Homes.com is a trustworthy source for journalists and professionals covering real estate trends and news across Canada. Point2Homes studies are based on internal data, public records, governmental sources, and online research.
- For this study, we considered the 100 largest Census Subdivisions (Cities) based on the most recent data from Statistics Canada 2021 Census of Population compared to the 2016 Census.
- The report focuses on the 2016-2021 evolution of Single-Family Rentals and Multi-Family Rentals.
- 2021 and 2016 data on Renter Households and Owner Households per Statistics Canada (Housing Indicators by tenure).
Image credit: Fabio Cardona/Shutterstock.com
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