Run apartment buildings, condos or offices for the owners: tenants, repairs, budgets and the 2 am flood.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Counsellors: send it to a student from your own email in one click.
Programs in the fields this career usually comes through. Each has its own page: what it takes to get in, the courses you need and what it costs.
The median pay is about $65,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $38,000 at the lower end to about $117,000 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
1 to 4 years after high school, on the usual route.
$1,300 to $14,300 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
It depends where you work. You need a licence, certificate or registration in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Saskatchewan. Elsewhere there is none to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.
Moderate demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$65,000
Lower end
$38,000
Upper end
$117,000
Job Bank groups this job under property administrators, with the page titled Strata Property Manager. Its national median is $31.25 an hour, about $65,000 a year at 40 hours a week. The lower end ($18.46) and upper end ($56.41) are the bottom and top of the wage range for everyone in the group.
$50.92 an hour
The Job Bank median in Nunavut, the highest in Canada
Among the provinces Quebec is highest at $34.77, Ontario is $30.13, and Nova Scotia is lowest at $23.08. Resident managers often live on site, and the housing is part of the pay.
Roughly, all in
$1,300 to $14,300
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
Plenty of property managers start with no post-secondary education at all and get licensed while working, so the low end is just the provincial licensing course and exam at about $1,000 to $2,000 and the first licence fee. The high end adds a one or two year college diploma in business or real estate at $3,000 to $6,000 a year. Designation courses run several thousand dollars more but employers commonly pay for them once you are hired. Some provinces do not license residential property managers at all, which drops the entry cost further.
Many people enter with no post-secondary at all and get licensed while working. This is one of the lower-cost paths in real estate.
Housing at no cost or a discount
For resident and building managers.
Health and dental
Standard at the larger management companies.
Car allowance or mileage
You drive between buildings.
Bonus
Some companies pay for hitting occupancy or budget targets.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
Start in a building, get licensed where your province requires it, then grow your portfolio.
High school diploma
Grade 12
Job Bank says secondary school is required in every province except BC, where a language test and a minimum age of 19 apply instead.
Diploma or first job
0 to 2 years
Some take a 1 to 2 year business or real estate diploma. Many start directly as a leasing agent, property administrator or assistant manager. Job Bank says several years of administrative experience are usually expected.
Provincial licence, where required
A few months
BC (strata and rental managers, through the BC Financial Services Authority), Alberta (property and condo managers, through RECA, the Real Estate Council of Alberta), Saskatchewan (through the Saskatchewan Real Estate Commission), Manitoba (through the Manitoba Securities Commission), Nova Scotia (through the Nova Scotia Real Estate Commission) and Ontario (condo managers only, through the Condominium Management Regulatory Authority of Ontario). Each involves a course and an exam.
Property manager
2 to 4 years
Your own building or small portfolio. In Ontario, condo managers hold a limited licence and work under supervision for about 2 years before qualifying for a general licence.
Designation (optional)
1 to 3 years, part time
The CPM (Certified Property Manager) or ARM (Accredited Residential Manager) from the Real Estate Institute of Canada, or the RCM (Registered Condominium Manager) from ACMO (Association of Condominium Managers of Ontario).
Business studies
Budgets, contracts, customer service.
Math
Operating budgets, reserve funds, rent increases.
English
Notices, letters and meeting minutes.
Technology or shop
Knowing how a boiler or a roof works helps you manage the contractors who fix them.
Job Bank lists this occupation as regulated in BC (by the BC Financial Services Authority) and Manitoba (by the Manitoba Securities Commission). Alberta licenses property managers and condo managers through RECA (the Real Estate Council of Alberta). Saskatchewan requires registration to negotiate leases or hold rent for a landlord, and Nova Scotia's real estate law counts rentals as trading. Ontario licenses condo managers only, through the Condominium Management Regulatory Authority of Ontario; managing a rental building in Ontario needs no licence. Quebec has no licence. Licences do not transfer automatically, so moving provinces usually means a new course and exam.
Quebec has no licence for property managers, and renting out units does not need a real estate licence, so employers decide what training they want.
Finish Secondary V
Age 16 or 17
Get your Secondary School Diploma. College property management programs ask for it, and so do most employers.
AEC (Attestation of College Studies) in property management, optional
4 terms
Gestion immobilière, a 900 hour CEGEP (public college) program with a 210 hour internship, at Cégep Garneau and Collège Montmorency, in French. Leases, maintenance, building finances.
First job
Varies
Leasing agent, rental clerk or assistant at a management firm. Leasing units does not need an OACIQ (Quebec real estate brokerage regulator) licence.
Learn Quebec rental law
On the job
Rent, lease renewal and eviction disputes go to the TAL (Tribunal administratif du logement, the housing tribunal). Leases must be offered in French.
Property manager
Varies
Your own buildings, tenants and budgets, for investors, developers or condo boards (syndicates of co-owners).
Real estate licence, only if you also sell
Optional
Selling buildings does need the OACIQ residential or commercial broker training and exam.
TAL (Tribunal administratif du logement)
The housing tribunal. Residential lease cases start there and nowhere else, including rent fixing, lease renewal and a landlord taking back a unit.
Leases in French
A lease is a standard contract, so a French version must be offered and stay available. Invoices and rent receipts must be given in French too.
OACIQ (Quebec real estate brokerage regulator) forms
Only licence holders can get and use the regulator's official leasing forms.
Things you don't need, but that help.
CPM (Certified Property Manager)
The senior designation from the Real Estate Institute of Canada. Common on commercial and large residential portfolios.
ARM (Accredited Residential Manager)
Also from the Real Estate Institute of Canada, for apartment and rental managers.
RCM (Registered Condominium Manager)
From ACMO (Association of Condominium Managers of Ontario). Preferred by many Ontario condo boards.
Commercial property management
Office, retail and industrial buildings, with bigger budgets and leases than residential.
A trade or maintenance background
Former superintendents and tradespeople make strong managers because they can judge a repair quote.
A driver's licence
Required. You travel between properties.
Bookkeeping
Reserve funds, operating budgets and rent rolls are a big part of the job.
Thick skin
Tenants and condo boards can be angry. Staying calm and documented is the skill.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Emails and calls from tenants or condo owners: a leak, a noise complaint, a lost key fob. Walk the building with the superintendent, note what needs fixing. Get quotes from a plumber and a roofer. Review the month's budget and chase late rent or condo fees. Show a vacant unit. Evening: a condo board meeting where owners debate a special assessment for the parking garage. On call for emergencies, which come at the worst times.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Until then anyone could manage a condo in Ontario. Now the Condominium Management Regulatory Authority of Ontario licenses managers, and since July 2023 renewing a general licence requires continuing education.
British Columbia calls condominiums strata corporations, which is why Job Bank's page for this job is titled Strata Property Manager. Same job, different word.
Job Bank counted about 48,200 property administrators in Canada in 2023, and rated the next three years very good in Ontario and good in Quebec, Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Property first, then the rest of the field. See every career in business and money.
Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
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