Cost to rent is going up in Sudbury: StatsCan

The latest numbers from Statistics Canada indicate Greater Sudbury had the second-highest year-over-year rent increase across the country. (File photo)

The latest numbers from Statistics Canada indicate Greater Sudbury had the second-highest year-over-year rent increase across the country. The data shows two-bedroom apartment units went from an average asking price of $1,830 in the first quarter of 2025 to $1,970 in the first quarter of 2026.

This 7.7 per cent hike places Sudbury behind only Saskatoon, which posted a 9.4 per cent increase for the same time frame.

‘A fluctuating thing’

Sherry Jordan, who has been in real estate and property management for 25 years, offered CTV News her perspective on the current numbers, suggesting they should be viewed within a broader context of recent market volatility.

“When we hit Covid 2021, 2022, yes, the rents were skyrocketing and we never saw anything like that in Sudbury,” she said.

“Since then, things have come down a little bit, stabilized, maybe went back up a little bit, stabilized. So, it’s kind of a fluctuating thing.”

Jordan said she feels new builds are having an impact but, that things are always changing. She pointed to seasonal patterns that are poised to temporarily ease demand, a factor that could slow the pace of rent increases in the immediate future.

“We’re now rolling into the kids all getting out of school. So, it’s going to slow down a little bit in my area anyways, as far as renting, because lots of people leave for part of July with their kids, you know, in both market sales and in rental,” Jordan said.

“It’ll slow down a little bit, but it’ll pick up mid-August when the university and college kids come back.”

Advocacy group highlights tenant insecurity

While the market may experience seasonal ebbs and flows, the lived reality for many Sudbury residents is one of growing precarity. Scott Florence, the executive director of Sudbury Workers Education and Advocacy Centre, said his organization hears from people every day about not only the cost of rent but whether or not they will have a place at all.

“Workers that are coming to us because their hours have been cut or they’ve lost their jobs, they’ve become super concerned about losing their place to live, because they know that if they lose the place that they’re in, that they’re not going to be able to find another place that is anywhere near as affordable,” Florence said.

He said this concern underpins the difficulty renters face in a market with limited supply and high demand, where even a minor financial setback can have cascading consequences.

Calls for government intervention

In response to the ongoing affordability crisis, Florence and his organization are advocating for a return to more robust government involvement in the housing sector. He told CTV News that the current situation requires policy intervention rather than relying on market forces alone.

“This is a policy issue and government needs to get involved by putting in rent control, creating more rent-geared-to-income housing and bringing in better protections for tenants so that landlords have to do the work around maintenance and quality of life to make sure that tenants have housing that they can live in and enjoy,” Florence said.