Metro Vancouver has highest rent in Canada

Metro Vancouver has overtaken Calgary and Toronto as the most expensive place in the country to rent a two-bedroom apartment, according to figures released on June 10 by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

With an average monthly rent of $1,154 based on April 2009 data used by the CMHC, Vancouver is now at the top of the list of five metropolitan areas where average rents for these housing units are above $1,000. The others are Calgary, Toronto, Edmonton, and Victoria.

CMHC figures show that the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in the Vancouver area increased by 7.7 percent from $1,071 in April 2008.

In April of last year, living in a two-bedroom apartment in Calgary or Toronto was costlier than in Vancouver, with rates of $1,096 and $1,075, respectively.

Average rents for two-bedroom apartments in existing structures (as opposed to those that are newly built) in Canada’s 35 major centres increased 2.9 percent between April 2008 and April 2009, according to the CMHC.

The survey also showed that the average rental-apartment vacancy rate in these urban areas increased slightly, to 2.7 percent in April 2009 from 2.6 percent in April 2008.

The CMHC stated that the completion of condominiums that were either bought by previously renting households or by investors who then rented them out contributed to the increase in the vacancy rate.

In April of this year, the apartment vacancy rate in Metro Vancouver was 1.9 percent, one percentage point up from the figure of 0.9 percent in the same month last year.

In April 2009, Abbotsford had the highest apartment vacancy rate in British Columbia, at 4.8 percent. It had the third-highest vacancy rate in Canada, after Windsor and St. Catharines–Niagara in Ontario.

Comments

3 Comments

High Rents Real Killer

Aug 11, 2009 at 1:00pm

Never mind taxes added to the price of goods try adding the highest rents out there to the price of goods and then add a carbon tax and HST and tell me how competitive BC is as many more find themselves out on the sidewalk, small and medium sized business included as bankruptcies at all time high. And people who work for slave wages are told low-income workers need to put eating on hold as the money is reserved for big business and Government who enjoys all those tax dollars residents as residents are forced to go hungry and cold while a billion is picked up for government expenses. Its all nonsense about increasing wages as Sask increases wages and business employment gains of 3.3 while BC refuses workers a living wage and unemployment increase of 3.3 here in BC.

ChristopherK

Jan 2, 2011 at 2:50pm

Jeez, that is harsh. Quebec i believe has the lowest rent rates in Canada. My Montreal appartment only runs me 430$ a month for a 2 bedroom.

You guys oughtta learn french and hop on a train to Montreal.

FrancisM

May 5, 2011 at 4:02pm

Vancouver and much of BC is way too overrated, even by Canadian standards. Affordable housing is a thing of the distant past and even in the small towns outside Vancouver, rent is, quite often, just as ridiculously overpriced as in the city. When I lived in Montreal, my 2-bedroom costed $380 a month while here in Vancouver you can't even get a room in the city's worst districts for that price. And it's not like the jobs pay enough to pay the rent. I split a 1-bedroom apartment here in Vancouver with 2 other guys and we each still pay $350 per person per month to live in a cramped, make-shift suite.

Perhaps it's time to head east again.