Good morning. The cost of renting can be overwhelming in some Canadian cities. But for the past few years, rents have actually been coming down and some landlords are trying to woo new renters into their units. Rental affordability, realtors’ advice and a Globe data dive are in focus today, along with Swedish aerospace aspirations.

Media: The 35-year-old scion of a European family dynasty will take over German media conglomerate Bertelsmann, which owns Penguin Random House and music label BMG.

Major projects: All the projects announced yesterday in Ottawa’s second round to be considered for fast-track approval are long-term bets on energy and critical minerals.

M&A: In the latest of a series of private equity acquisitions of Canadian public companies, Warburg Pincus LLC plans to take private Toronto-based alternative lender ECN Capital Corp. with a $1.1-billion buyout.

The Globe’s personal finance team decided to take a deeper look into the cooling rental market because Canadians are increasingly choosing renting as a permanent way to live, rather than a temporary measure until they’re able to buy a home.

In today’s edition, we explore the findings from our reporting and data research. We also answered your questions in a live Q&A yesterday, and you can check out that conversation too.

What is the state of the Canadian rental market right now?

If you’re a renter, the state of the rental market is actually quite good. Of course, prices are still very expensive in many markets and significantly higher than they were prepandemic, but Toronto and Vancouver are actually at four-year lows. If you moved into an apartment a couple of years ago when the market was at its peak, you might be able to negotiate a rent decrease based on market conditions. Lots of tenants have told me that their landlords have agreed to these kinds of decreases as a goodwill measure at a time when landlords are struggling to find tenants.

Why are prices lower today?

Rents are lower today because three market forces are converging. First, we’ve seen an unusually high number of housing projects get completed this year. You have tons of landlords who are getting possession of their units and many are struggling to rent out condos. Canada is also cutting immigration levels significantly, and that’s affecting demand across the country, including in markets near colleges. Lastly, you can’t really have a booming rental market and increasing prices when there’s such a pervasive feeling of uncertainty in the Canadian economy.

How long will rent prices stay this way?

Experts don’t expect this situation to last more than a couple of years. The main reason is that the collapse of the condo market means that many developers are delaying or cancelling their projects because they no longer make financial sense. That means there will be fewer housing completions in a couple years, and we could find ourselves in a situation where there isn’t enough housing to meet demand

Can you tell us about the ranking of Canada’s most renter-friendly cities that you and data editor, Mahima Singh, recently published?

I think it’s important to help renters understand where they can get the best bang for their buck, because the choice to rent is one that often comes out of financial necessity. Canadians move interprovincially for things like work and school, and they should be able to understand how that kind of move could affect their finances.

Mahima looked at four different factors when ranking just over 200 Canadians cities: affordability (the cost of rent compared with average income in a given area); availability (the amount of available rental stock in a region); stability (how prices have fluctuated over the past five years); and livability (a score given based on how easy it is to access amenities and move around in a city).

What were some of the most interesting findings?

Edmonton was named first, and I think that’s interesting because Canada has seen lots of interprovincial migration to Alberta – just under 100,000 people moved to that province from other parts of Canada in 2023 and 2024. Edmonton is also much more affordable than Calgary, although that city also ranked pretty high at 12th. It was also quite telling that the majority of cities in the top 10 were in the Prairies.

Are there any lessons here for those who are renting?

I think that Canadians who are open to leaving regions like Toronto and Vancouver need to at least think about Edmonton and Calgary as options. If they’re looking to move to another big city, those are the only ones with more than a million people that ranked in the top 20. Renters should also take note of the market environment they’re in. I know moving is a pain, but this winter is looking to be an opportune time to get a better deal if you’re unhappy with your current housing situation. Or, it’s a good time to try and get a reduction on how much rent you pay.