Landlord Incentives Reshaping the 2026 Rental Market in Calgary and Vancouver
Thirty-seven years. That’s how long it’s been since Vancouver’s vacancy rate was as loose as it is right now, and almost nobody researching a move to Canada in 2026 hears about the rental market incentives in Calgary and Vancouver that have come with it, because most emigration content is still written as if every Canadian landlord holds all the leverage by default.
The vacancy numbers behind the shift
CMHC’s Rental Market Report, based on an October 2025 survey and published in December 2025, found the national purpose-built vacancy rate at 3.1%, up from 2.2% the year before — the loosest the market has been in years. Vancouver’s vacancy rate reached 3.7%, the calgary rental vacancy rate 2026 figure came in even higher at 5.0%, and Calgary’s rental supply grew 11% over the same period, the fastest pace of new supply in decades. The vancouver rental vacancy 37 year high specifically marks the highest vacancy rate the city has recorded since 1988.
What nobody tells you: landlords are competing for you now
In a market this loose, landlords in both cities are reportedly offering real move in incentives canadian rentals haven’t seen much of since before the pandemic — a free month’s rent, moving allowances, and signing bonuses, according to CMHC’s own December 2025 reporting. That’s a genuine, practical shift in negotiating power. A newcomer arriving in either city in 2026 is stepping into a rental market with more room to negotiate than at any point in recent memory, and most pre-arrival research simply doesn’t mention it because it’s such a recent change.
Why this happened in these two cities specifically
Calgary’s surge in vacancy tracks directly to that 11% supply growth — a genuine building boom outpacing demand growth, at least for now. Vancouver’s story is a little different: its vacancy climbing to a 37-year high reflects a broader national trend of rents falling for 21 consecutive months as of mid-2026, in a city that has spent most of the past two decades being cited as Canada’s least affordable rental market. Both stories point the same direction even though the underlying cause differs.
What this doesn’t mean
A loose overall vacancy rate doesn’t mean every unit, every neighbourhood, or every price bracket in either city is easy to find or negotiate on. Vancouver in particular remains one of the most expensive rental markets in the country in absolute dollar terms even with vacancy this high — a one-bedroom there still runs around $2,400 a month as of June 2026, well above the $1,600 Calgary equivalent. Looser vacancy changes your negotiating position; it doesn’t change the baseline price you’re negotiating from.
The practical takeaway
If you’re arriving in either city in 2026, it’s worth actually asking landlords in Calgary and Vancouver what they’ll throw in, rather than assuming the asking rent is the final number — something that would have been a much weaker suggestion in either city just a few years ago. Whether a landlord will actually offer one in your specific case isn’t something any general guide can promise, but the market conditions genuinely favour asking.
Apartment hunting in either city? Our Cost of Living guide tracks rent trends across Canada’s major markets, worth a look before you start.