Edmonton Rents and Gross Yields: What Investment Properties Earn by Area

Edmonton is one of the last big-city markets in Canada where rental math still works on paper: the CMHC Rental Market Survey (October 2025) puts the citywide average purpose-built rent at $1,493 a month with a 3.8% vacancy rate across 102,108 rental units, while real condo medians in investor neighbourhoods start at $109,000 (Paragon MLS® sold data, November 9, 2025 – November 8, 2026). This page puts the two datasets side by side — zone rents from CMHC, sold prices by community from the Edmonton Housing Data Centre — and shows the rough gross-yield arithmetic with its method printed, so you can check every number.

Edmonton rents and vacancy by CMHC zone

CMHC surveys purpose-built rental buildings (three or more units) every October and publishes by zone, not by neighbourhood — no official source publishes neighbourhood-level rents, and any page that shows them is estimating. These are the October 2025 figures (all unit sizes combined):

Read it the way a landlord does: the tightest big market is the North East at 1.0% vacancy; the softest is Millwoods at 6.3% — the same Millwoods whose rents are among the city's highest, because its rental stock skews to larger townhouse-style units. Suburban rents (St. Albert $1,875 average, Strathcona County $1,858) run well above the city zones: suburban rental stock is newer and larger, and there is far less of it.

Rough gross yields: zone rent against community condo prices

Method, printed on purpose: gross yield = the CMHC zone's rent × 12, divided by the community's median condo sold price. The range runs from the zone's median rent (low end) to its average rent (high end). It is GROSS — before condo fees, property tax, insurance, management and vacancy — and the zone rent covers all unit sizes in purpose-built stock, while the price is that community's actual condo median. Treat it as a screening number for comparing areas, never as a return promise on a specific unit.

The pattern matters more than any single row: the highest gross yields sit where condo prices are lowest (Clareview Town Centre, Mill Woods Town Centre, Wîhkwêntôwin), and those are exactly the buildings where condo fees and special assessments can take the biggest bite out of the gross figure. The yield table starts the conversation; the building's reserve fund study finishes it.

Where investor money enters: the lowest condo medians

Every community above recorded at least 25 condo sales last year, so these medians rest on real volume, not one cheap sale. Each links to its full market dashboard — price trend, detached split and days on market — which is where an investor checks whether a low median is a soft market or a falling one.

From our own rental files

Survey data is the map; landlording is the territory. In our own rental files, a 3-bedroom half-duplex condo townhouse in South Terwillegar checked at about $2,000 a month plus utilities in a November 3, 2026 market review — just above the Edmonton 3-bedroom median of $1,960 from the same check, and up from $1,800 on the previous tenancy. Two lessons in that one file: Edmonton rents are still rising in family-sized stock even as apartment vacancy loosens, and a tenant-pays-utilities structure keeps the landlord's gross much closer to net than an all-inclusive rent at the same headline number.

Gross is not net: the three deductions that decide an Edmonton rental

Condo fees. On a $150,000 condo grossing a paper 10%, a $450 monthly fee is 3.6 points of yield gone before anything else. Fees are building-specific and there is no public registry — screen the reserve fund study, not the listing sheet.

Property tax. Priced community by community in the Edmonton Cost of Living hub (2026 rate, City of Edmonton Bylaw 21442): on the median-priced home, from about $1,220 a year in Central McDougall to about $12,570 in Westbrook Estates.

Vacancy. Budget with the CMHC rate for the zone your building sits in — 1.0% in the North East, 6.3% in Millwoods, 3.8% citywide — not with a hopeful zero.

Running numbers on a specific property? Call Travis Bannert at 780-720-8240 — as both Realtor® and Mortgage Broker he can price the purchase, the rent case and the financing (including the 20% investor down-payment rule) in one conversation, with the building's own documents on the table.

Travis Bannert, Realtor® | Bridge Realty Group, Maxwell Progressive Realty
780-720-8240 | bridgerealtygroup.ca

Sources for this page

• Rents, vacancy and rental universe: CMHC Rental Market Survey, October 2025 — Edmonton summary statistics by zone, Housing Market Information Portal (linked above).
• Sold prices, volumes and days on market: Paragon MLS® sold data, November 9, 2025 – November 8, 2026 — Edmonton Housing Data Centre.
• Landlord example: Bridge Realty Group rental files, market check November 3, 2026 (3-bedroom median $1,960; subject property about $2,000 plus utilities).
• Property tax: City of Edmonton Bylaw 21442 (2026 residential rate) — see the Edmonton Cost of Living hub.

Frequently asked questions

What is the average rent in Edmonton?
CMHC's October 2025 survey: $1,493 a month averaged across all purpose-built rental units (median $1,475), with a 3.8% vacancy rate across 102,108 units. Zone averages run from $1,283 (Hudson's Bay Reserve) to $1,636 (Millwoods) inside the city, and higher in St. Albert and Strathcona County.

What gross yield can an Edmonton rental condo earn?
On the printed method above — zone rent against community condo medians — roughly 6% to 12% gross depending on the area, before condo fees, tax, insurance and vacancy. Net is always lower, and low-price buildings carry the highest fees relative to price, which is why the reserve fund study matters more than the headline yield.

Why are there no rents by individual neighbourhood?
Because no official source publishes them. CMHC reports by zone; this page shows zone rents labelled as zone rents and pairs them with neighbourhood sold prices, instead of inventing a neighbourhood rent figure.

How much down payment does an investment property need?
A non-owner-occupied rental purchase in Canada requires at least 20% down. Owner-occupied purchases with a legal suite can qualify with less — the structure changes the math, which is why the purchase and the mortgage should be planned together.