Saskatchewan has no citywide rent cap; the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 governs notice and disputes instead, so the pressure here is ordinary carrying cost, not a policy freeze. A small landlord with a single mortgaged rental has less room to cover a furnace replacement or a month of vacancy than an owner holding 20 units across the city.
Scale also changes who can wait out a soft rental market. A big owner can hold a unit vacant for 2 to 3 months while marketing it properly, while a small landlord under mortgage pressure often takes the first tenant available, which shapes the quality of tenant they end up with.
That gap is exactly why a lot of small landlords eventually decide selling beats holding. Get your hand-reviewed valuation from Joel Dyck.