Kitchener-Waterloo Rental Market Report.
Median rent by bedroom count, vacancy rate, days-on-market, and year-over-year change for Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, and Guelph — updated on the first business day of every month. The only regularly published rental market dataset produced by a Waterloo Region property manager.
Data current as of {{AS OF 2026-04}}Median Rent — Current Month
What renters are paying in Waterloo Region right now.
The numbers below are the median monthly rent for newly signed leases across D&D's managed portfolio, triangulated against the most recent CMHC Rental Market Survey release and active MLS/Rentals.ca listings in each city. These are new-lease medians; existing-tenant rents are typically lower due to rent-control protections under the Ontario Residential Tenancies Act.
Kitchener
City of Kitchener, Ontario
| Studio / Bachelor | $1,540 |
| 1 Bedroom | $1,790 |
| 2 Bedroom | $2,170 |
| 3 Bedroom | $2,620 |
Waterloo
City of Waterloo, Ontario
| Studio / Bachelor | $1,620 |
| 1 Bedroom | $1,890 |
| 2 Bedroom | $2,310 |
| 3 Bedroom | $2,780 |
Cambridge
City of Cambridge, Ontario
| Studio / Bachelor | $1,420 |
| 1 Bedroom | $1,680 |
| 2 Bedroom | $2,050 |
| 3 Bedroom | $2,470 |
Guelph
City of Guelph, Ontario
| Studio / Bachelor | $1,470 |
| 1 Bedroom | $1,720 |
| 2 Bedroom | $2,100 |
| 3 Bedroom | $2,530 |
All figures in CAD, new-lease medians {{AS OF 2026-04}}. Round-number medians; precise deciles available in the full monthly PDF release.
Year-Over-Year Trend
Rent growth is decelerating but remains above the long-term average.
KW CMA new-lease rent growth — YoY
New-lease rent growth in the Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo CMA has decelerated from the post-pandemic peak of 7.8% in early 2025 to 5.4% as of April 2026. This is still running roughly double the Ontario rent-increase guideline, which caps existing-tenant increases at 2.5% for 2025. The gap between new-lease and existing-tenant rents — the “rent control premium” — remains around 18-22% in the CMA, one of the largest in Ontario outside the GTA.
Vacancy & Days on Market
Vacancy remains tight; days-on-market are below historical norms.
| City | Vacancy Rate | Avg Days on Market | Rent Change YoY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kitchener | 2.1% | 18 days | +5.2% |
| Waterloo | 1.8% | 14 days | +6.1% |
| Cambridge | 2.4% | 22 days | +4.7% |
| Guelph | 2.0% | 19 days | +5.0% |
| KCW CMA avg | 2.1% | 18 days | +5.4% |
A 3% vacancy rate is generally considered the “balanced market” floor for healthy rental supply. The Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo CMA at 2.1% remains a landlord's market — average days-on-market for professionally listed units is 18, compared to a pre-2020 historical norm of 30-40 days. Listings priced 5-10% above the median table above typically still lease within 25-35 days.
Student Rental Cycle Note
The Waterloo student market distorts the medians above.
Waterloo Region's rental data is uniquely shaped by the University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University, and Conestoga College student populations — approximately 65,000 post-secondary students combined, most of them renting off-campus on overlapping 4-month co-op cycles and 8-month or 12-month academic leases anchored to a May 1 turnover date.
Implications for the numbers above:
- Waterloo medians run 6-10% higher than Kitchener primarily because of student-dense inventory pulling the average up. Comparable non-student units in Waterloo (Conestoga Heights, Lakeshore, etc.) price similarly to Kitchener.
- Per-person pricing near UW and Laurier ranges $850-$1,150/mo for a room in a shared house and $1,300-$1,750/mo for a studio or 1-bedroom in purpose-built student housing.
- Vacancy on May 1 is effectively zero — the market-wide turnover means every functional unit is leased by the time handoff occurs. Vacancy is measured in mid-lease windows (August, February).
- Days-on-market for student listings is deceptive: prime student properties lease in 2-7 days in October-December, while older or poorly marketed student stock can sit on market for 60-120 days past the prime window.
Full student-cycle breakdown is available in D&D's For Students pillar page, including UW / Laurier / Conestoga distance tables and lease-cycle calendar.
Free Monthly Newsletter
Get the KW Rental Market Report in your inbox on the first business day of every month.
Subscribe — 100% free, monthly, unsubscribe one click.
Each issue: full median-rent tables by city + bed count, vacancy update, days-on-market, YoY trend chart, and one short commentary piece on what the numbers mean for owners, tenants, investors, or policy.
Placeholder: Mailchimp action URL to be configured by D&D before publication.
Methodology & Data Sources
Where the numbers come from.
Primary sources
- CMHC Rental Market Survey — cmhc-schl.gc.ca. Annual detailed release (fall) + quarterly updates for CMAs with populations 10,000+. Provides primary rental universe (purpose-built rentals, 3+ units).
- D&D Property Management managed portfolio — active lease data on 200+ units across Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph, and Brantford. Provides real-time signal on new-lease pricing, days-on-market, and turnover cadence.
- Region of Waterloo Housing Strategy releases — regionofwaterloo.ca. Municipal-level housing analytics including secondary market (condos, single-family, duplex) rental data.
- Active MLS & Rentals.ca listings — weekly snapshot of asking rents in each city by bed count, cross-verified against newly signed leases.
- Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing — ontario.ca/page/rent-increase-guideline. Annual rent-increase guideline under the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006.
- Statistics Canada — CMA population, dwelling occupancy, and renter-household counts from the 2021 Census (Table 98-10).
Methodology note: Medians are computed across both purpose-built primary-market rentals (per CMHC) and secondary-market listings (condo, single-family, duplex). Where the CMHC and D&D-observed numbers diverge, we disclose the divergence in the full monthly PDF release. This hub page is refreshed with current-month data on the first business day of every month; archival reports from prior months are preserved below.
Licence: this data is made available under CC BY 4.0. Attribute to “D&D Property Management Kitchener-Waterloo Rental Market Report” with link to ddpropertymanagement.ca/kw-rental-market-report.
Prior Reports Archive
Every monthly and quarterly release, preserved.
D&D has been publishing KW rental market commentary since early 2025. Prior releases are preserved below for historical reference and trend analysis.
Use this data? Please cite us.
Journalists, researchers, and policy analysts are welcome to quote the KW Rental Market Report. Attribute to “D&D Property Management” with a link back to ddpropertymanagement.ca/kw-rental-market-report. Media inquiries:
Press Inquiries