The average rent in St. Catharines is $1,592 for an unfurnished one-bedroom, up 3.91% from September 2026, in liv.rent’s October 2026 Ontario rent report. That report counts asking rents, while CMHC’s October 2025 survey counts rents in occupied units and put the City of St. Catharines at $1,387 for a one-bedroom and $1,628 for a two-bedroom. Figures here are as of publication, and rents move. The last section answers whether buying is cheaper.
Where to rent in St. Catharines: average rent by area
Where you rent in St. Catharines changes the number. In CMHC’s October 2025 Rental Market Survey, the Core zone had the lowest averages of the three St. Catharines zones, at $1,299 for a one-bedroom and $1,499 for a two-bedroom. Remainder South had the highest ($1,634 and $1,935), and Remainder North sat between them at $1,403 and $1,581. The city averages above ($1,387 and $1,628, CMHC, October 2025) come from a different CMHC table (by census subdivision), not from the zone table below.
CMHC reports these averages by zone, not by neighbourhood. Its St. Catharines-Niagara survey has three St. Catharines zones (Core, Remainder North, and Remainder South) plus zones for other Niagara cities, and we’ve used 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.
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. 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 comes from CMHC’s average rent by zone table for the St. Catharines-Niagara survey area. It shows average rents from CMHC’s October 2025 Rental Market Survey for row and apartment units, covering 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.
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. We then tracked each side’s net worth over 25 years. Whichever side spends less each month invests the difference, and break-even is the first year-end when the owner, after selling costs, is at least level with the renter on net worth. It’s an illustration, not advice.
Every city in this comparison goes through the same calculator with the same assumptions. Only four local numbers change from place to place: the home price, the yearly property tax, the monthly rent, and the transfer tax. These are assumptions for comparison, not a quote or advice. We haven’t modelled mortgage qualification (the stress test).
| 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 |
The rent source is the one assumption that differs from liv.rent’s Metro Vancouver buy-vs-rent comparison. 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’s averages are drawn from occupied units, many on older leases, so they sit below current asking rents. If you sign a new lease today, you’d 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 aren’t like for like with Metro Vancouver’s, because the rent basis differs.
None of this is a forecast. We chose 4.50% as a round figure for every city in this comparison, so it’s not a quote, and we haven’t tested any other rate. The 2.2% yearly growth is an assumption too. The Government of Ontario’s rent increase guideline is 2.1% for 2026 and 1.9% for 2027 (page updated June 23, 2026), and it doesn’t cover units first occupied for residential purposes after November 15, 2018. We picked 2.2% as 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 for the 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 for the Niagara Association of REALTORS (NAR) report apartments for the Niagara Region as a whole. It put the typical apartment price at $355,400 in September 2026, down 4.7% from a year earlier. That’s 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 didn’t 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, but 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. That’s the largest monthly increase in the report’s group of other Ontario cities. It’s about $205, or 15%, above CMHC’s $1,387 one-bedroom average, but 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 say 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.
In Ontario, your 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 says assessments for the 2026 tax year are based on “fully phased-in January 1, 2016 current values,” so a home bought in 2026 normally carries an assessment below its price. 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
Owning costs more than renting in month one in all three pairings, at the $355,400 price in September 2026 and rents from October 2025 and October 2026. The gap runs from $991 a month (against CMHC’s two-bedroom average) to $1,232 (against CMHC’s one-bedroom average), and it’s $1,027 against liv.rent’s asking rent. That owner cost covers the mortgage payment, property tax, and the $500 a month we assumed for condo fee and insurance.
| 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. If you’re renting at liv.rent’s October 2026 asking rent of $1,592, buying would add $1,027 a month, 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 rules (updated April 22, 2026) set 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’s $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 our comparison invests on day one.
Does buying ever catch up with renting in St. Catharines?
You won’t see buying pull ahead within 25 years in any pairing at full-price property tax: the calculator found no break-even. It’s the same result whether prices stay flat or rise 2% a year. 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. There, the owner has $559,749 after 25 years against $635,613 for the renter (September 2026 price, October 2025 rent).
The 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. That’s a bound, not a realistic figure: real tax sits somewhere between the full-price figure and zero, and we don’t 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 on the September 2026 price. Taking it out 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 calculator finds no break-even within 25 years at full-price tax. If you expect to hold for decades and your unit’s assessed value is far below its price, you’d come closest to the tax-at-zero results. And if you’re signing a new lease at asking rents, you’d spend $1,027 a month less than an owner (liv.rent’s October 2026 figure is $1,592).
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 comparison. Part of an owner’s payment repays mortgage principal and builds equity, so the net worth tables, not the month-one gap alone, decide the comparison.
The Ontario Ministry of Finance’s first-time homebuyer refund rules (updated February 10, 2026) put Ontario’s land transfer tax refund for qualifying first-time purchasers at up to $4,000. 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. Among the conditions, you must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, occupy the home within nine months, and never have owned an eligible home anywhere in the world. We haven’t applied the refund in our numbers.
Property tax is the largest open question. MPAC assessments for 2026 are based on January 1, 2016 values, so the 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 the figures we used, and selling costs of 4% of the sale price make a short stay expensive. One month isn’t 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, makes no mention of 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
The City of St. Catharines publishes its 2026 tax rates and an example calculation, which you can use to test the tax line. Your own mortgage quote and a specific unit’s condo fee and tax bill will differ from ours.
Current asking rents are in liv.rent’s October 2026 Ontario rent report, and you can 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
Every pairing we ran puts renting ahead in month one. On the Niagara Region’s September 2026 apartment price, which stands in because no board publishes a typical apartment price for the city alone, owning costs about $2,619 a month. Rents are $1,387 to $1,628 in CMHC’s October 2025 averages (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 calculator 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 on the September 2026 price. A unit’s assessed value matters a great deal. If you expect to hold for decades and your assessed value is far below the price, owning suits you. It’s 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?
Asking rents average $1,592 for an unfurnished one-bedroom in liv.rent‘s October 2026 Ontario rent report, up 3.91% from September 2026. CMHC’s October 2025 survey measures occupied units, so it can run lower: $1,387 for a one-bedroom and $1,628 for a two-bedroom in the City of St. Catharines.
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. Remainder South was the highest, at $1,634 and $1,935. Welland’s one-bedroom average, $1,190, was the lowest of any area 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 doesn’t 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 of $517,700 covers all home types, houses included, so it isn’t an apartment price.
Do first-time buyers get a land transfer tax refund in Ontario?
Yes, eligible first-time homebuyers get up to $4,000 of land transfer tax back, according to the Ministry of Finance (updated February 10, 2026). You must be at least 18, be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, and live in the home within nine months. At $355,400 (September 2026), an eligible buyer gets all $3,806 back.
Will buying ever catch up with renting in St. Catharines?
Not 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 at $0, a bound rather than a realistic figure, break-even arrives between the fifth and 22nd year in five of six runs. It depends heavily on the assessed value.
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