A recent report finds that Vancouver has the second-highest average rent across Canada for one-bedroom apartments and the highest rent for two-bedrooms. However, the market shows a downward trend as the effects of COVID-19 become more pronounced on rent prices.
Conducted by Padmapper.ca, the report analyzes rental data from hundreds of thousands of active listings across the country. From there, listings are aggregated on a monthly basis to calculate median asking rents for the top 24 most populous metropolitan areas.
For the first time since Padmapper.ca began conducting the report, it finds that Toronto rents were down, "on all fronts." With that being said, Toronto still has the highest rent for a one-bedroom apartment Canada-wide, costing $2,200 for the month of May. It also has the second-highest rent for a two-bedroom, which costs $2,830.
Vancouver also saw a downward trend, with one-bedroom prices falling 2.3% from the previous month to $2,100 for the month of May. In addition, one-bedroom prices have fallen 1.4% since last year. The city still has the highest rent in Canada for a two-bedroom apartment, coming in at a staggering $3000 for the month of May. While this price hasn't fallen month-to-month for a two-bedroom, it has dropped 2.9% over the previous year.
Overall, 12 cities were on an upward trajectory, 7 downward, and 5 remained flat.
Padmapper notes that "on a year-over-year basis, over half of the cities still had rental growth rates up in the double-digits, signalling that even though COVID-19 may be putting downward pressure on monthly prices, the Canadian market is still hot and very in demand from a long-term perspective."
In Burnaby, on a month-to-month basis, the one-bedroom price dropped 1.1% to $1,770 and a two-bedroom fell 1.7% to $2,330. However, on a year-over-year basis, one-bedroom rent here has skyrocketed up 12.7%.
Montreal dropped out of the top five markets to rank as the sixth most expensive city with one-bedroom rent falling 5.2%, which was the biggest monthly rental decline in the country, to $1,470. Two-bedrooms decreased 2.6% to $1,850.
Photo: Padmapper.caThe report is based on all data available in the month prior to publication. Any data that is reported does not include short term or AirBnb listings.
