Canary

St. John's · November 2026

What to buyin St. John's.

A small long-term rental beats a short-term listing here. Downtown is not the automatic best buy.

Talk with CanaryRun the numbers

Last updated November 2026. General information, not financial, legal, or tax advice. Figures are estimates. Check MLS comps, a lender, and an insurance broker.

2.1%Vacancy, St. John's CMA, Oct 2025
+5.6%Rent growth on the same units, 2024 to 2025
4.6%Example cap rate, a downtown 3-unit
$16,445Median year, Canary's short-term rental portfolio (15 listings, 2025)

Start here

Pick the line that sounds like you.

The short answer

Buy a legal 2 to 4 unit building, built or fully renovated after about 1980, with electric heat and separate meters.

Downtown works when the wiring, roof, and fire separations are already done, and the price leaves room for repairs.

A short-term rental in town is a side bet. Outside town, buy it because you like the place, not because the spreadsheet works.

At 5.2% interest and 25% down, the example prices below cash-flow a little under zero. You make the return from rent growth, low vacancy, and the mortgage paying down.

Cap rate, by strategy

Same financing on every bar: 25% down, 5.2%, 25 years. Prices are working assumptions, not sold comps.

  • Suburban duplex4.7%
  • Downtown multi, 3 units4.6%
  • House with a legal suite4.5%
  • Condo, 1 unit2.7%
  • AirDNA average STR1.1%
  • Rural Avalon STR-0.1%
  • Canary short-term portfolio-0.5%

The short-term bar uses Canary's short-term rental portfolio (15 listings, 2025). One long-term 2-bedroom at $1,400 a month grosses $16,800. That portfolio's median year is $16,445, with a 25% management fee and a quiet winter. The full table is in the strategy comparison.

Short-term nights, 2025

July is the year. June through September hold most of the bookings.

  • Jan2
  • Feb4
  • Mar161
  • Apr16
  • May71
  • Jun266
  • Jul386
  • Aug338
  • Sep158
  • Oct33
  • Nov26
  • Dec70

Booked nights across Canary's short-term rental portfolio (15 listings, 2025). The source notes 78% of those nights fell from June to September.

Where to look

An area judgment, using vacancy, tax rates, building age, and Canary rents only where the sample is large enough.

  1. 01
    Paradise

    Lowest tax, newer houses, and a lot of legal suites. Canary leases here (28) have a median rent of $1,700.

  2. 02
    Mount Pearl

    Solid 1970s to 1990s houses. The Canary sample is too small to quote a rent.

  3. 03
    West end, Churchill Square, Rabbittown

    West-zone vacancy is 1.2%. Demand comes from the university and the Health Sciences Centre.

  4. 04
    Cowan Heights and Kilbride

    Families, and newer homes that already have suites. Fewer small apartment buildings.

  5. 05
    Downtown and Georgestown

    Walkable, with the highest rent per square foot. Older wood houses cost more to insure and repair.

  6. 06
    CBS

    A fair spot for a house with a suite. The Canary sample is too small to quote a rent.

  7. 07
    The Battery

    Views, steep lots, and very old houses. This is not a cash-flow buy.

House hacking

Live in one unit. Rent a legal suite. On the $480,000 example in the comparison, both units at $1,650 gross $39,600 a year. One suite grosses $19,800 before vacancy. The mortgage is still on the whole house.

The calculator example uses that price, one rented unit, 3% vacancy, a 38% expense ratio, 25% down, and 5.2% interest. Collected rent is $19,206 a year. Monthly cash flow is -$1,154. The suite does not pay the whole mortgage at 25% down. It cuts what you pay to live there. Owner-occupied down payments are often lower. Change the inputs.

  • Legality, permits, and egress. The suite needs permits and its own safe exit.
  • Zoning. Ask the city if a second unit is allowed before you count the rent.
  • Insurance. Tell the broker you will live there and have a tenant.
  • Tenant rules. The Residential Tenancies Act still applies when you live upstairs.
  • How the lender treats rental income. Many lenders count only part of the suite rent. Ask.
  • Utilities. Separate meters avoid the fight. Shared bills need a written split.

Buy box for realtors

Legal 2 to 4 unit, or a house with a legal suite. Paradise, Mount Pearl, or the west end near the university and the hospital. Downtown only if it is already updated.

Post-1980, or a full renovation with permits. Electric or mini-split heat, separately metered. A working price band is $450,000 to $650,000 for 2 to 3 units. Confirm it with MLS comps.

Aim for a cap rate of 5.5% or better, DSCR of 1.2 or better, and expenses of 40% or less. At today's prices that usually means a value-add, below-market rents, or more money down.

Walk away from knob-and-tube wiring, an unpermitted unit, a buried oil tank, missing fire separations, or an insurance quote that is declined.

Calculator

Long-term math, in your browser. Nothing is sent to Canary. The expense ratio is operating cost as a share of collected rent, before the mortgage. It starts at 38%. Newer suburban stock is often near 40%. Older downtown stock is often near 50%. Condos can pass 55% once fees are in. Lenders usually want DSCR of 1.2 or more.

Collected rent per year
$50,634
NOI
$31,393
Cap rate
5.7%
DSCR
1.06
Monthly cash flow
$156
Cash-on-cash
1.4%

Details and data

The same figures, with the tables. Purchase prices, insurance, and several expense ratios are estimates.

Market snapshot
IndicatorValuePeriodSource
Rental vacancy, St. John's CMA2.1%Oct 2025CMHC
Vacancy, St. John's West zone1.2%Oct 2025CMHC
Average rent, 1 bedroom$1,086Oct 2025CMHC
Average rent, 2 bedroom$1,361Oct 2025CMHC
Rent change, same units+5.6%2024 to 2025CMHC
MLS HPI benchmark, composite$421,800 (+6.8%)Sep 2026CREA / NLAR
Benchmark single family$442,300Sep 2026CREA / NLAR
Benchmark apartment (condo)$261,400Sep 2026CREA / NLAR
Active listings, NL2,743 (-18.4%)Sep 2026CREA / NLAR
Multi-family sales, St. John's125 (-16.1%)Q3 2026CREA / NLAR
Avg days on market, metro resale31Jan to Sep 2026Avalon Real Estate Data
St. John's CMA population243,478 (+1.3%)2025NL Finance
NL immigrants5,3112024 to 2025NL Finance
NL visitors531,800 (+1%)2025NL Tourism KPIs
YYT passengers1.41M (+2.2%)2025St. John's airport
Bank of Canada rate / Big Six 5-year fixed avg2.50% / 5.18%Oct 2026TermRates, nesto

Water tax per unit in 2026 is $700 in St. John's, $625 in Mount Pearl and Paradise, and $665 in CBS. On a $500,000 assessment, St. John's costs about $650 a year more in property tax than Paradise.

Canary portfolio, by type and area

Aggregated Canary records. Not a random market sample. Individual buildings are not shown.

Canary metricValueBasis
Median rent, St. John's leases$1,788196 leases, all sizes
Median rent, Paradise leases$1,70028 leases
Median rent, 1 bedroom$1,40033 leases
Median rent, 2 bedroom$1,40070 leases
Median rent, 3 bedroom$2,00040 leases
Median rent, 4 bedroom$2,4008 leases
Typical lease length11 months median66 leases with recorded months
Short-term listings with 30+ nights in 202515Hospitable export in Canary records
Short-term median nights booked, 202593 (about 25% of the year)Same 15 listings
Short-term median annual payout, 2025$16,445Canary's short-term rental portfolio (15 listings, 2025)
Short-term average nightly rate, 2025$199Average stay 5.0 nights
Short-term nights in June to September78%2025
Maintenance spend, 2025about $2,400 per managed property$225,066 across 93 properties
Management fee chargedLong-term 10 to 12%, short-term 25%, leasing 50% of one monthCanary fee schedule
Heating typeElectric baseboard in about 90% of propertiesProperty records

Mount Pearl and CBS leases are in the portfolio. Those samples are too small to publish as their own rent figures.

Ledger by type

63 buildings with $5,000 or more of rent collected and 6 or more months of history. Net is rent collected minus Canary-billed maintenance, management, utilities, advertising, appliances, and supplies. It excludes the mortgage, property tax, and insurance.

TypeBuildingsNet per building / monthNet per unit / monthLifetime rentExpense ratioMaintenance shareMedian tenancy
Multi-unit27 buildings, 63 units$1,955$874$1,883,93835%17%9 months
Single unit27$1,157$1,157$1,204,77837%19%9 months
Short-term rental9 buildings$1,500$1,307$761,51447%18%n/a

Ledger by area

AreaBuildingsUnitsNet per unit-monthExpense ratioMaintenance share
Paradise713$1,27322%3%
St. John's central (A1B)610$1,15431%15%
St. John's downtown (A1C)1620$1,10340%21%
St. John's west (A1E)1317$1,02635%15%
Outside metro615$89045%20%
St. John's east end (A1A)1016$76950%29%

Paradise, mostly newer duplexes, keeps 78% of rent. Downtown spends 21% of rent on maintenance. The east end, older stock, keeps about half. Mount Pearl and CBS are part of the portfolio, but those samples are too small to publish as their own rows.

Type is inferred. Multi-unit means 2 or more unit records at one civic address. Short-term means an Airbnb status or management over 20% of rent. Net is not owner cash flow, because mortgage, tax, and insurance are paid outside Canary. Many buildings have only 12 to 24 months of history, so one repair can move a group total.

Full strategy comparison

Illustrative estimates. Financing is 25% down, 5.2%, 25 years. Rents come from Canary lease figures and CMHC. Tax and water come from 2026 municipal pages. The condo price is the CREA apartment benchmark. Insurance, condo fees, short-term supplies ($5,000 a year), and repair percentages are estimates.

StrategyPriceGrossExpense ratioNOICap rateDSCRCash flow/yrCash-on-cash
Downtown multi (3 units)$550,000$52,20050.3%$25,1714.6%0.85-$4,346-3.2%
Suburban up/down duplex (Paradise, Mount Pearl, CBS)$500,000$39,60039.1%$23,6344.7%0.88-$3,199-2.6%
Single-family + legal basement suite (St. John's)$480,000$39,60043.3%$21,7774.5%0.85-$3,983-3.3%
Condo (1 unit)$261,400$16,80057.1%$6,9992.7%0.50-$7,030-10.8%
STR in St. John's (Canary's short-term rental portfolio (15 listings, 2025))$400,000$16,445111.0%-$1,815-0.5%-0.08-$23,282-23.3%
STR in St. John's (AirDNA average)$400,000$26,00083.5%$4,3001.1%0.20-$17,167-17.2%
STR outside St. John's (rural Avalon, Trinity, Bonavista)$300,000$16,445102.4%-$390-0.1%-0.02-$16,490-22.0%

NOI = rent x (1 - vacancy) - taxes - water - insurance - fixed costs - (maintenance + capital repairs + management) x collected rent

Cap rate = NOI / price. DSCR = NOI / annual debt payments. Cash-on-cash = (NOI - debt payments) / down payment.

No strategy cash-flows at these prices with 25% down. Long-term buildings land near a 4.5 to 4.7% cap rate and a DSCR around 0.85. The suburban duplex beats downtown on tax, insurance, and repairs. The case based on Canary's short-term rental portfolio (15 listings, 2025) barely covers its operating costs. The AirDNA average yields about 1% before debt.

What keeps expenses down

Electric baseboard or a mini-split, paid by the tenant on a separate meter. Separate panels. A roof under 10 years, vinyl windows, PEX or copper. A post-1980 build, or a gut renovation with permits. Fire separations and egress already approved. Off-street parking.

The expensive surprises are knob-and-tube or aluminum wiring, oil heat and buried tanks, old galvanized or cast-iron drains, pre-1950 row houses with no fire separation, owner-paid utilities, and unpermitted basement apartments.

Inspect before the offer is firm, including a sewer camera on older lines. Get the landlord insurance quote before you waive conditions. Confirm the legal unit count with the city. A reserve of about 5% of rent fits newer stock. Use 7 to 10% for pre-1960 buildings, plus a fund for the next roof.

About 90% of homes Canary manages use electric baseboard. Maintenance in 2025 averaged about $2,400 per managed property. Most work orders are cleaning, pests, lawn, and snow. The large invoices are plumbing and the building envelope, mostly in older stock.

Risks and unknowns

The Bank of Canada raised its policy rate to 2.50% in October 2026. A higher renewal rate can turn thin cash flow negative.

Newfoundland and Labrador has no rent control in the usual sense. You can raise rent once per 12 months, with 6 months of notice on a month-to-month tenancy. The deposit cap is three-quarters of one month.

The Tourist Accommodations Act requires registration when a short-term rental is not your primary home. City rules could get tighter.

There is no public series of multi-unit sale prices or cap rates. Canary's short-term rental portfolio (15 listings, 2025) may include part-year listings. Mount Pearl and CBS samples are too small to publish.

A sharper version of this page would use MLS multi-unit sold comps, paid short-term comps by area, and insurance quotes by the age of the building.

Sources

Bring the next oneto Canary.

We lease and manage long-term rentals and short-term stays in St. John's and nearby towns. If you are buying, we can talk before you waive conditions.

(709) 200-9626

info@canarypm.ca

St. John's, NL. Monday to Friday, 9 am to 5 pm. Tenant support is 24/7 on homes we manage.

Aaron owns Canary. He is happy to walk a realtor through a buy box. Email and say you are a realtor.

Email CanaryStart the property form

General information only, not financial, legal, or tax advice. Figures are estimates as of November 2026.