
Barrie apartment rentals make top 10 list of most expensive in Canada: report
Zumper.com ranked Barrie as the 9th most expensive city to rent in the nation last month with the prices of one and two-bedrooms settling at medians of $1,800 and $2,000, respectively. The report states the average monthly rent in Barrie is up overall by 1.02 per cent compared to last month, but is down 12.11 per cent year-over-year.
Vancouver, B.C. remains the most expensive city in Canada to rent a one-bedroom, holding steady at $2,520 on average. Despite a slight decrease in one-bedroom rental prices by 1.3 per cent, Toronto maintained its position in third place, with rent for a one-bedroom at $2,260.
Also making the top 10 are Burnaby, B.C., Victoria, B.C., Halifax, N.S., Ottawa, Kelowna, B.C., Kitchener, and Oshawa.
"This marks the first time in five months that the national rents have posted gains across the board, both monthly and annually," Zumper.com reports. "This turnaround signals a shift in market momentum as we enter peak moving season, a period that typically brings heightened demand and competition. With more renters actively searching and relocating during the warmer months, we're starting to see upward pressure return to the national rates."
Zumper.com analyzes rental data from active listings nationwide based on a monthly basis.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Globe and Mail
22 minutes ago
- Globe and Mail
Fed's dilemma between AI and housing
Tension between the Federal Reserve's jobs and inflation mandates may be less worrisome than a dilemma over whether to focus on the spluttering housing market or rocketing tech infrastructure spending. By most metrics, the U.S. central bank is still missing its 2-per-cent inflation target, and neither market-based nor household inflation expectations express much confidence that it will meet it any time soon. And that's before factoring tariff rises. The debate about the labour market, meanwhile, is clouded by the modest layoffs and new jobless claims as well as the still low jobless rate, which likely reflects halted immigration and worker shortages. Intense political pressure aside, none of these standard checklists argue for the Fed to resume cutting interest rates with gusto - or even easing at all. But the central bank's conundrum on what to do next may be best captured by the contrast between the artificial intelligence boom and what increasingly looks like an ailing housing market. Easing now to support the latter would most likely supercharge the tech capex binge and kill any chance the Fed has of meeting its inflation goal. Yet keeping rates high to manage the excesses of the AI explosion could spell deeper trouble for a housing sector that accounts for well over 10 per cent of GDP. A gauge of U.S. homebuilder sentiment fell this month to its lowest level in more than two-and-a-half years, with more than a third of residential construction firms cutting prices and two-thirds offering some form of incentive to lure buyers put off by still-high mortgage rates. New housing inventory is near levels last seen in late 2007. Even though housing starts picked up in July, total permit issuance - a guide for future activity - fell 2.8 per cent to a five-year low. One major problem is rooted in homeowner stasis due to the previous period of ultra-low interest rates. While the average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has started to fall, hitting a four-month low at 6.67 per cent in the week ended August 8, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, it remains more than 2.5 percentage points above the average rate of all outstanding mortgages. With no portable mortgages from property to property, homeowners with cheap mortgages have been loath to sell and move given that they would need to obtain substantially pricier financing for any new home purchase. And this situation has helped push the median price on existing home sales above those on new home sales for the first time on reco This distortion forms one of the arguments for the Trump administration's push to get interest rates down urgently. But Jason Thomas, head of global research at Carlyle, has pointed out that there is another real estate trend the Fed needs to consider: the hundreds of billions of dollars being plowed into AI-related data centers - and pledges for trillions more - as this industry's breakneck pace is set to accelerate. Thomas reckons the massive demand for capital involved in this massive AI buildout - along with the huge demand on savings from a federal budget deficit projected at more than 6 per cent of GDP over the next three years - means lower interest rates now could create serious risks of overheating the entire economy. 'The issue is not whether high rates are 'crowding out' interest-sensitive sectors like for-sale housing. Clearly, they are. The question for policymakers is how much crowding out is necessary to meet price stability targets,' he wrote on Tuesday. 'The Fed has proven unable to hit its inflation target while high rates have depressed housing-related incomes and spending,' he concluded. 'What are the chances that target is hit after a series of rate cuts causes the sector to rebound?' Of course the Fed is setting policy that typically won't have a pronounced effect for at least a year, and it may decide the economic situation will be different by then. Higher unemployment may result from a weak housing sector, a tariff-related consumer retrenchment may ensue, or perhaps AI spending could slow down. But pre-empting those outcomes now would require a giant leap of faith rather than scientific forecasting. Inflation expectations and the long end of the bond market may pass harsh judgment on a hasty easing. Be smart with your money. Get the latest investing insights delivered right to your inbox three times a week, with the Globe Investor newsletter. Sign up today.


CBC
31 minutes ago
- CBC
Air Canada resumes flights after strike deal
Aug. 19, 2025 | A strike at Air Canada is over, but it could be days before flights get back to normal. Five Canadian soldiers are suspended after a Nazi salute video surfaces. And inflation cools, except at the grocery store.

Globe and Mail
43 minutes ago
- Globe and Mail
How these entrepreneurs turned their side hustle into their main gig
When Shelby Weaver started customizing sneakers as a hobby in 2018, she says she didn't consider herself to be particularly artistic. Ms. Weaver sought reprieve from her busy role as a director for the Toronto Raptors when inspiration to experiment with altering sneakers first struck. A year later, Ms. Weaver was hatching a plan to launch a studio where others could come together to paint and personalize their favourite pair of kicks. Today, Ms. Weaver and her co-founder Abby Albino, who is head of brand and business strategy at Canada Basketball, run Mack House, a studio near Toronto's Queen Street West strip where sneaker heads can put their personal spin on footwear. Next door is Makeway, launched a year later, where the pair sell sneakers and streetwear. 'I'm an action person,' says Ms. Weaver. 'If I have an idea that I think is good, I'm doing it right away.' Like many entrepreneurs, Ms. Weaver and Ms. Albino started a new venture while balancing full-time jobs, and in Ms. Albino's case, parenthood. They are two out of 7.4 million Canadian adults who report having a side-hustle on top of other work commitments. What sets some of these entrepreneurs apart from the rest is their ability to scale their side gigs into full-fledged businesses. A key strategy for scale, according to Rawcology founder Tara Tomulka, is a willingness to experiment. 'I'm a recovering perfectionist,' confesses Ms. Tomulka, who began building her raw food business 10 years ago while working in corporate communications. 'It can hinder you from getting started if you think it needs to be perfect first. Get out there. Start experimenting, adjust and get feedback. You can change things along the way.' Ms. Tomulka did exactly that while researching the ideal Rawcology product to place in supermarkets. She experimented with several types of plant-based foods, including a line of vegan dips, before landing on a recipe that enabled coconut chips to masquerade as Doritos. 'On a whim, I tried making smoky cheese coconut chips. I took the recipe to [the culinary department] at George Brown [College], and we looked at how we could launch a product like that with a shelf life. While testing recipes there, I realized I wanted to have an impact by creating snack foods that are better for you.' Ms. Tomulka has since left corporate communications entirely and works full time on expanding Rawcology's footprint with products like grain-free granola and other low allergen offerings. Both she and the women behind Mack House and Makeway credit their trajectory, in some part, to the support of good mentors and business partners. 'I had a very positive relationship with my boss,' Ms. Tomulka says when reflecting on the period where she transitioned from full-time work in communications to studying nutrition. 'I didn't leave my full-time role right away. We made an arrangement for me to stay on part-time while going back to school.' Ms. Weaver says her parents are both entrepreneurs, which made taking the leap herself less daunting. She also notes that, perhaps counterintuitively, juggling multiple jobs and projects has helped relieve some of the early stress of entrepreneurship. 'Doing this while we've had full-time jobs has allowed us to take the pressure off the business financially,' says Ms. Weaver, who notes the recent lull in consumer spending is a difficult reality the Makeway team is navigating. 'When you're fighting to pay your bills you make very different business decisions than when you're investing in the business. I'm not saying it is viable for everyone, but having the businesses live on their own while also building our careers in basketball has been empowering.' Like the founders of Rawcology and Makeway, Kimberly Knight and Shanelle McKenzie were looking to improve their wellbeing when they hatched their plan for what would eventually be Canada's first wellness space for women of colour, The Villij. The co-founders met while working at Via Rail in 2017 and started working on The Villij while holding down full-time jobs. In 2023 and 2024 respectively, they left their roles to focus on growing The Villij full time. What started as a series of sold-out, pop-up yoga classes morphed into a bricks-and-mortar space for both fitness and networking. 'We knew we were ready to open the studio because we were putting out events and we were sold out each time,' recalls Ms. McKenzie while reflecting on what prompted them to take the leap into launching their studio. 'Sixty per cent of women who came to our pop-up events said they would have never tried yoga before due to lack of representation,' says Ms. Knight. 'We know we are meeting an underserved community, and it's not necessarily that the demand wasn't there, it's just that we're one of the first to step up to the plate and successfully meet it.' Another common thread between these entrepreneurs is a powerful ability to cultivate community. Ms. Tomulka says one of her proudest moments was seeing different generations of consumers fall in love with her food. For Ms. Weaver, there's pride in building a business and community hub that engages and employs locals. 'We are obsessed with our community, our business, and our team,' says Ms. McKenzie. 'There's not a day that I don't think about something we can do for The Villij.'