Rents still ‘extremely high’ in Vancouver despite national price decline: analyst

Average rents in B.C. are down 3.4 per cent compared to this time last year, but a market analyst says Vancouver rents remain extremely high.

It’s the first time October average asking rents declined nationally on a year-over-year basis in three years said a report out Thursday.

The report from Rentals.ca and Urbanation found average asking rents across Canada sat at $2,152 in October, down 1.2 per cent from the same month in 2023 — the first national decrease since July 2021.

The decline is mainly concentrated in Canada’s major urban centres, with cities like Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, and Montreal seeing rent decreases.

Despite decreases, Rentals.ca’s associate director of communications, Giacomo Ladas, says renting in Vancouver still can’t really be considered affordable.

“We are happy to see the start of it. That is following years and years of incredibly high rental increases. The average rent right now in Vancouver for one bedroom apartment is still around $2,700 a month. That’s extremely high. Extremely high,” said Ladas.

He says that rents have been coming down in Vancouver for some time now and he does expect that to continue.

But, Ladas says that because Vancouver is globally competitive and only has so much room to build — it’s likely always going to be pricey to live here.

“I just think that Vancouver and Toronto are such highly desirable locations for people to go to, that it’s not like these rents are going to just fall off a cliff. It’s still going to be expensive,” he explained.

“But hopefully in the short term, people looking to rent can find a little bit softer asking rents, and then hopefully this continues throughout the winter months as well.”

After years of inflation in the rental market, Ladas says when people get a place they hold on to it.

“Homeownership, is just still becoming a little bit out of reach for many people, and therefore they’re staying in the rentals longer. And because of that, they’re actually looking for rental apartments that offer two and three bedrooms, because they expect to be in these properties longer,” he said.

Vancouver ranked the lowest in a report by Money.ca analyzing the best and worst major Canadian cities for homebuyers based on financial factors.

Also published Thursday, the Money.ca report shows that Vancouver is the second worst place to rent while saving for a home. It says given the average annual income, Vancouver residents spend 46.07 per cent of their earnings on rent on average. 

Vancouver takes the lowest spot based on the estimated time to save for a 10 per cent deposit on a home purchase.

Meanwhile, Rentals.ca say rents rose 17.1 per cent in Saskatchewan, which remained the fastest-growing province in the country in terms of asking price, after seeing 23.5 per cent annual growth in September.

Ladas says some of the rise in other provinces’ rents can be attributed to B.C. as well.

“Between July of 2022 and the end of 2023, the number of people who left British Columbia to go to other provinces or territories across the country was higher than the number of people who came to British Columbia,” he explained.

“They’re going to Alberta, they’re going to Saskatchewan, they’re going to Atlantic Canada. And that’s why you’re seeing those areas of the country increasing.”

If you are looking for a place right now, Ladas recommends finding roommates to live with, and making sure you have your references, credit check and damage deposit ready to go to make sure you get the place you want.

—With files from Cole Schisler and Sammy Hudes, The Canadian Press