The average rent in St. Catharines is $1,592 for an unfurnished one-bedroom in October 2026, up 3.91% from September 2026, according to liv.rent’s October 2026 Ontario rent report, which counts asking rents. CMHC’s October 2025 survey, which counts rents in occupied units, put the City of St. Catharines at $1,387 for a one-bedroom and $1,628 for a two-bedroom. The sections below show CMHC rents by area and then set rent beside the cost of owning an apartment, and the last section answers whether buying is cheaper. Rents and prices are as of the date this post was published, and they change, so confirm the current rent with the landlord before you decide.
Where to rent in St. Catharines: average rent by area
Rent in St. Catharines depends on the area. In CMHC’s October 2025 Rental Market Survey, the Core zone had the lowest averages of the three St. Catharines zones ($1,299 for a one-bedroom and $1,499 for a two-bedroom) and Remainder South the highest ($1,634 and $1,935), with Remainder North between them at $1,403 and $1,581. The city averages quoted above ($1,387 and $1,628, CMHC, October 2025) come from a different CMHC table, which is by census subdivision, not the zone table below.
CMHC reports these averages by zone, not by neighbourhood. Its St. Catharines-Niagara survey has three St. Catharines zones, called Core, Remainder North, and Remainder South, plus zones for other Niagara cities, and we use CMHC’s labels as published rather than matching them to neighbourhoods. Each figure is an average for its zone, not a price for a particular street or building.
Keep the two kinds of rent figure apart. CMHC counts rents paid in occupied purpose-built units in October 2025, many on older leases, so its averages can sit below current asking rents, while liv.rent counts current asking rents in October 2026. In liv.rent’s October 2026 Ontario rent report, the average unfurnished one-bedroom asking rent was $1,592 in St. Catharines and $1,756 in Niagara Falls. Current St. Catharines rentals on liv.rent show what landlords are asking now.
The table below shows average rents from CMHC’s Rental Market Survey of October 2025 for row and apartment units, taken from CMHC’s average rent by zone table for the St. Catharines-Niagara survey area. It covers the three St. Catharines zones, plus Welland and Niagara Falls (Core) from other Niagara cities.
| Area | One-bedroom | Two-bedroom |
| St. Catharines (Core) | $1,299 | $1,499 |
| St. Catharines (Remainder North) | $1,403 | $1,581 |
| St. Catharines (Remainder South) | $1,634 | $1,935 |
| Welland | $1,190 | $1,493 |
| Niagara Falls (Core) | $1,310 | $1,433 |
Of the areas in our table, Welland has the lowest one-bedroom average ($1,190) and Niagara Falls (Core) the lowest two-bedroom average ($1,433), both from CMHC’s October 2025 survey. The rest of this post puts these rents beside the cost of owning an apartment, and the short answer on renting versus buying is the last section.
How we set up the comparison for St. Catharines in October 2026
We compared the monthly cost of owning an apartment, bought at the September 2026 Niagara Region apartment price, with average one-bedroom and two-bedroom rents in St. Catharines, then followed each side’s net worth for 25 years. Whoever spends less in a given month invests the difference, and break-even is the first year-end when the owner’s net worth, after selling costs, is at least the renter’s. The result is an illustration, not advice.
One shared calculator produces every number, with assumptions frozen from city to city.
| Assumption | What we used |
| Price data month | September 2026 (the Niagara Region apartment price, because no board publishes a typical apartment price for St. Catharines alone) |
| Rent data | CMHC Rental Market Report, October 2025 survey: average rent for occupied purpose-built apartments in the City of St. Catharines. liv.rent’s October 2026 one-bedroom asking rent is shown beside it |
| Down payment | 20%, so no mortgage insurance premium |
| Mortgage | 4.50% five-year fixed, held for the whole period; 25-year amortization |
| Closing costs | Ontario land transfer tax on the standard schedule with no exemptions, plus $3,000 for legal and inspection |
| Condo fee and insurance | $500 a month, rising 2.2% a year |
| Property tax | The City of St. Catharines’ 2026 all-in residential rate applied to the apartment price, rising 2.2% a year |
| Rent growth | 2.2% a year |
| Investment return | 4.0% a year on any money not spent on housing |
| Selling costs | 4% of the sale price |
| Home price scenarios | Flat, and 2% a year |
| Not counted | Tenant insurance, maintenance beyond the condo fee, tax on investment returns |
One assumption differs from liv.rent’s Metro Vancouver buy-vs-rent comparison: the rent source. We use CMHC’s October 2025 averages for both unit sizes and add liv.rent’s October 2026 one-bedroom asking rent ($1,592, from the October 2026 Ontario rent report) as a third pairing. CMHC averages cover occupied units, many on older leases, so they sit below current asking rents. A renter signing a new lease today would likely pay more, so the month-one gap in the CMHC pairings is, if anything, wider than a new-lease renter would see. These gaps are not like for like with Metro Vancouver’s, because the rent basis differs.
These are modelling assumptions, not forecasts. We chose 4.50% as a round figure for every post in the series, so it is not a quote, and no other rate was tested. The 2.2% yearly growth is also an assumption. The Government of Ontario’s rent increase guideline is 2.1% for 2026 and 1.9% for 2027 (page updated June 23, 2026) and does not cover units first occupied for residential purposes after November 15, 2018, so 2.2% is a round figure slightly above it. The guideline governs increases during a tenancy, not the asking rent for a new lease.
What price, rent and property tax did we use for St. Catharines?
We used $355,400 as the apartment price: the Niagara Region’s apartment price for September 2026, not a figure for St. Catharines alone. For rent we used CMHC’s October 2025 averages for the City of St. Catharines ($1,387 for a one-bedroom, $1,628 for a two-bedroom) and liv.rent’s October 2026 one-bedroom asking rent of $1,592. Property tax uses the City’s 2026 urban rate of 18.42187 per $1,000.
The price is a stand-in, and we say so plainly: no board publishes a typical apartment price for St. Catharines alone. CREA’s statistics page for the Niagara Association of REALTORS (NAR) reports apartments for the Niagara Region as a whole, and put the typical apartment price at $355,400 in September 2026, down 4.7% from a year earlier. It is the MLS Home Price Index reference price for the region, not an average of sales. NAR’s September 2026 statistics package gives St. Catharines a composite price of $517,700, but that includes houses, so we did not use it. NAR also said its figures “may be slightly skewed due to listing delays following the summer flooding.”
CMHC’s October 2025 average rents for the City of St. Catharines are $1,387 for a one-bedroom and $1,628 for a two-bedroom. The city figure hides a wide range: in CMHC’s zone summary, the all-bedroom average in October 2025 was $1,390 in the Core and $1,840 in Remainder South, with vacancy of 2.3% and 1.5%. The same table puts vacancy for the whole St. Catharines-Niagara area at 3.8%.
liv.rent’s October 2026 Ontario rent report puts the average unfurnished one-bedroom asking rent in St. Catharines at $1,592, up 3.91% from September 2026, the largest monthly increase in the report’s group of other Ontario cities. That is about $205, or 15%, above CMHC’s $1,387 one-bedroom average, and the two measure different things: CMHC counts rents paid in occupied units in October 2025, while liv.rent counts current asking rents in October 2026.
The City of St. Catharines’ 2026 urban residential rate is 1.842187 per cent, and the City’s tax rates page says most properties are taxed under it; the rate includes allotments for streetlights and transit, and Council finalized the combined 2026 rate on April 13, 2026. The City publishes the total without a breakdown, so we quote the total only. On $355,400, it works out to about $6,547 a year in 2026.
Ontario property tax is the municipal and education rates multiplied by assessed value from the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC), not by price. MPAC’s assessment cycle page says assessments for the 2026 tax year are based on “fully phased-in January 1, 2016 current values.” A home bought in 2026 therefore normally carries an assessment below its price, so applying the rate to the price likely overstates the tax. We used the price as a stand-in, and the break-even section below shows a bound with tax set to $0.
Owning at $2,619 a month against rent from $1,387 to $1,628 in St. Catharines
At the $355,400 price in September 2026 and rents from October 2025 and October 2026, owning costs more than renting in month one in all three pairings. The gap runs from $991 a month (against CMHC’s two-bedroom average) to $1,232 (against CMHC’s one-bedroom average), and is $1,027 against liv.rent’s asking rent. Owner cost is the mortgage payment, property tax and the frozen $500 condo fee and insurance figure.
| Pairing | Mortgage payment | Owner cost, month one | Rent | Owner cost above rent |
| CMHC one-bedroom rent | $1,574 | $2,619 | $1,387 (CMHC) | $1,232 |
| CMHC two-bedroom rent | $1,574 | $2,619 | $1,628 (CMHC) | $991 |
| liv.rent one-bedroom asking rent | $1,574 | $2,619 | $1,592 (liv.rent) | $1,027 |
Owner cost is $2,619 in every row because there is one price, so only the rent changes the gap. A renter paying liv.rent’s October 2026 asking rent of $1,592 would add $1,027 a month by buying, plus the up-front cash below.
| Up-front cash | Niagara Region apartment price (September 2026) |
| Apartment price (NAR via CREA) | $355,400 |
| 20% down payment | $71,080 |
| Ontario land transfer tax | $3,806 |
| Closing costs including $3,000 legal and inspection | $6,806 |
The Ontario Ministry of Finance’s land transfer tax page (updated April 22, 2026) sets 0.5% on the first $55,000, 1% up to $250,000, 1.5% up to $400,000 and 2% up to $2 million. On $355,400 that is $275, plus $1,950, plus $1,581, or $3,806, and we applied no exemptions. The down payment and closing costs together are $77,886, which the renter in this model invests on day one.
Does buying ever catch up with renting in St. Catharines?
At full-price property tax, the calculator found no break-even within 25 years in any pairing, whether prices stay flat or rise 2% a year. Break-even is the first year-end when the owner’s net worth, after selling costs, is at least the renter’s. A zero-tax bound follows the tables.
| Pairing | Break-even, flat prices | Break-even, prices up 2% a year |
| Against CMHC one-bedroom rent | Not within 25 years | Not within 25 years |
| Against CMHC two-bedroom rent | Not within 25 years | Not within 25 years |
| Against liv.rent one-bedroom asking rent | Not within 25 years | Not within 25 years |
Each net worth cell reads owner first, renter second.
| Pairing and price path | After five years | After 10 years | After 25 years |
| CMHC one-bedroom rent, flat | $91,561 / $175,332 | $134,905 / $291,181 | $341,184 / $789,861 |
| CMHC one-bedroom rent, up 2% a year | $127,072 / $175,332 | $209,623 / $291,181 | $559,749 / $789,861 |
| CMHC two-bedroom rent, flat | $91,561 / $158,694 | $134,905 / $252,387 | $341,184 / $635,613 |
| CMHC two-bedroom rent, up 2% a year | $127,072 / $158,694 | $209,623 / $252,387 | $559,749 / $635,613 |
| liv.rent one-bedroom rent, flat | $91,561 / $161,179 | $134,905 / $258,182 | $341,184 / $658,654 |
| liv.rent one-bedroom rent, up 2% a year | $127,072 / $161,179 | $209,623 / $258,182 | $559,749 / $658,654 |
The owner’s figures are identical across the three rents because owning costs more than renting in every month of the 25 years, so the owner never has a surplus to invest. The closest run is the CMHC two-bedroom rent with prices up 2% a year: $559,749 for the owner after 25 years against $635,613 for the renter (September 2026 price, October 2025 rent).
The up-2%-a-year price path is a what-if, not a forecast: CREA’s September 2026 data show the Niagara Region’s apartment price down 4.7% from a year earlier.
What happens if property tax is set to $0?
We also ran each pairing with 2026 property tax set to $0. This is a bound, not a realistic figure: real tax sits somewhere between the full-price figure and zero, and we do not invent a number in between. With tax at zero, month-one owner cost falls from $2,619 to $2,074 (September 2026 price), and owning still costs more than renting in every pairing.
| Pairing | Owner cost above rent with tax at $0 | Break-even, flat prices | Break-even, prices up 2% a year |
| Against CMHC one-bedroom rent | $687 | Not within 25 years | Ninth year |
| Against CMHC two-bedroom rent | $446 | 19th year | Fifth year |
| Against liv.rent one-bedroom asking rent | $482 | 22nd year | Fifth year |
Property tax is $545 of the $2,619 month-one owner cost in 2026 terms. Removing it turns the CMHC two-bedroom pairing at flat prices from no break-even into the 19th year, so a unit’s assessed value matters a great deal.
Who might own in St. Catharines, and what would move the result?
On September 2026 prices and rents from October 2025 and October 2026, renting costs less in month one in every pairing, and the model finds no break-even within 25 years at full-price tax. A buyer who expects to hold for decades and whose assessed value is far below the price comes closest to the tax-at-zero results. A renter signing a new lease at asking rents spends $1,027 a month less than the owner in our model, against liv.rent’s $1,592 figure.
Landlords and owners can read the tables from the other side: a unit bought at $355,400 in September 2026 and let at liv.rent’s October 2026 asking rent of $1,592 would bring in $1,027 a month less than the full owner cost in our model. Part of an owner’s payment repays mortgage principal and builds equity, which is why the net worth tables, not the month-one gap alone, decide the comparison.
The Ontario Ministry of Finance’s first-time homebuyer refund page (updated February 10, 2026) says Ontario’s land transfer tax refund for qualifying first-time purchasers is up to $4,000, and that no tax is payable on the first $368,000 of consideration for an eligible home. At $355,400, the whole $3,806 would be refunded for an eligible buyer, cutting closing costs to the $3,000 for legal and inspection. Eligibility includes being a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, occupying the home within nine months, and never having owned an eligible home anywhere in the world. We did not apply the refund in the model.
Property tax is the largest open question: MPAC assessments for 2026 are based on January 1, 2016 values, so real tax on a 2026 purchase likely sits below the full-price figure we used. A specific unit’s price, condo fee and mortgage rate will also differ from our frozen inputs, and selling costs of 4% of the sale price make a short stay expensive. One month is not a trend either: liv.rent’s St. Catharines asking rent rose 3.91% from September to October 2026.
CMHC’s 2026 Mid-Year Rental Market Update, published June 9, 2026, does not mention St. Catharines or Niagara, so the October 2025 survey is the latest CMHC reading we used. This is general information, not financial advice; for your own numbers, a mortgage broker or financial planner is the place to start.
What to check next if you are weighing a St. Catharines apartment
Start with the unit itself: ask for its condo fee, current assessed value and last year’s property tax bill, and get a mortgage quote. The City of St. Catharines publishes its 2026 tax rates and an example calculation to help you test the tax line.
For current asking rents, read liv.rent’s October 2026 Ontario rent report and browse the rent reports. The guide to renting vs buying covers the wider trade-offs, and the guide to Ontario rent increases explains the guideline for landlords and tenants.
Renting vs buying in St. Catharines: the short answer
Renting costs less in month one in every pairing we ran. On the Niagara Region’s September 2026 apartment price, which stands in because no board publishes a typical apartment price for St. Catharines alone, owning costs about $2,619 a month, against $1,387 to $1,628 in CMHC’s October 2025 average rents (occupied units, which can sit below current asking rents) and $1,592 in liv.rent’s October 2026 asking rent. At full-price property tax, the model finds no break-even within 25 years, whether prices stay flat or rise 2% a year.
With property tax set to $0, a bound rather than a realistic figure, break-even arrives between the fifth and 22nd year in most runs, so a unit’s assessed value matters a great deal. Owning suits a buyer who expects to hold for decades and whose assessed value is far below the price. This is an illustration, not a forecast or advice. For the national picture, see Canada’s 2026 price-to-rent ranking.
What is the average rent in St. Catharines?
CMHC’s October 2025 survey put the City of St. Catharines’ average rent at $1,387 for a one-bedroom and $1,628 for a two-bedroom. liv.rent‘s October 2026 Ontario rent report put the average unfurnished one-bedroom asking rent at $1,592, up 3.91% from September 2026. CMHC measures occupied units, so asking rents run higher.
Where is rent lowest in St. Catharines?
In CMHC’s October 2025 survey, the Core zone had the lowest averages within St. Catharines, $1,299 for a one-bedroom and $1,499 for a two-bedroom, against $1,634 and $1,935 in Remainder South. Welland’s one-bedroom average, $1,190, was the lowest in our table.
Is it cheaper to rent or buy in St. Catharines?
Renting costs less in month one in every pairing we ran. On September 2026 prices, owning costs about $2,619 a month, against $1,387 to $1,628 in CMHC’s October 2025 average rents and $1,592 in liv.rent‘s October 2026 asking rent. At full-price property tax, buying does not catch up with renting within 25 years.
How much does an apartment cost in St. Catharines?
No board publishes a typical apartment price for St. Catharines alone. CREA’s statistics for the Niagara Association of REALTORS (NAR) put the typical apartment price for the whole Niagara Region at $355,400 in September 2026, down 4.7% from a year earlier. NAR’s St. Catharines figure, $517,700, covers all home types including houses, so it is not an apartment price.
Do first-time buyers get a land transfer tax refund in Ontario?
Ontario refunds up to $4,000 of land transfer tax for eligible first-time homebuyers, according to the Ministry of Finance page updated February 10, 2026. Buyers must be at least 18, be Canadian citizens or permanent residents, and live in the home within nine months. At $355,400, the whole $3,806 of tax would be refunded for an eligible buyer.
Will buying ever catch up with renting in St. Catharines?
At full-price property tax, our calculator found no break-even within 25 years against any of the three rents, with prices flat or up 2% a year. With property tax set to $0, a bound rather than a realistic figure, break-even arrives between the fifth and 22nd year in five of six runs. The result depends heavily on the assessed value.
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