Vancouver rentals still most expensive in Canada, down 7.7% YoY in July: report

The latest rental data from Rentals.ca shows Vancouver and Burnaby are still the most expensive places in Canada to rent a home, despite a dip in prices compared to the same time last year.

However, Vancouver alone saw a dip of 7.7 per cent year-over-year for a one-bedroom rental in July, coming in at an average of $2,724 per month, with two-bedroom rentals seeing a dip of 5.6 per cent year-over-year, for an average of $3,648.

Giacomo Ladas, communications manager at Rentals.ca, tells CityNews that rents in Vancouver have been declining for seven months in a row.

“What really is happening right now is that people who are looking to rent are prioritizing affordability much more than accessibility. And because of that, we’re seeing a lot of interprovincial migration where people who live in British Columbia are in fact moving to other areas of the country,” said Ladas.

According to the rental agency, the average rental price across Canada dipped by 0.8 per cent from May, “the largest month-over-month decline since early 2021 during COVID-19 and reversing the typical seasonal trend of increasing rents at this time of year.”

The rental agency says national rental prices “were essentially flat” over the past three months, increasing just 0.2 per cent between March and July.

“Asking rents for all residential property types in Canada increased seven per cent from a year ago to an average of $2,185 in June, representing the slowest annual rate of growth in 13 months,” Rentals.ca added.

Ladas says the problem is a simple matter of supply and demand.

“[Vancouver is] such a desirable location, but it’s desirable on a world stage level. People wanna come to Vancouver and therefore it’s always going to have a high level of demand. I don’t think there’s going to be a time where demand goes down in such a premier area of our country like Vancouver. But what’s happening right now is there just not enough supply that has met the demand that we’re seeing. An area like Vancouver, for example, we’re seeing a vacancy rate of only one per cent, which is extremely, extremely low,” Ladas said.

He says the solution is building purposeful, affordable housing.

“And that’s going to need the government to step in and make it a little bit more affordable for developers to build, a little bit quicker for them to build, and then they can start asking less in rent.”

The biggest dips, the agency says, have been seen in apartment and condo rentals.

“Asking rents for purpose-built and condominium rental apartments decreased by one per cent month-over-month in June to an average of $2,146. Compared to a year ago, apartment rents were up nine per cent, driven by an 11 per cent annual increase in rents for purpose-built rentals to an average of $2,121. Condominium apartment rents increased by a much smaller amount of 2.6 per cent over the past year to an average of $2,320,” the rental agency shared.

“While studio rents for condominiums declined 5.1 per cent annually in June to an average of $1,823, purpose-built studio rents grew 14.6 per cent to an average of $1,613. Annual growth for purpose-built rentals was close to or above 10 per cent for all unit types in June. For condominium rentals, annual rent growth increased with larger unit types, reaching 8 per cent for three-bedroom units.”

The rental agency says Vancouver is also the most expensive place to rent, even for those with roommates.

“Vancouver remained the most expensive city for roommate rents with an average cost of $1,471, up 1.2 per cent annually,” it said.

—With files from Cole Schisler.