A luxurious open-concept kitchen and a phenomenal False Creek view. And the two-bedroom suite is yours if you can afford it, at a whopping $14,500 a month.
The 2,225 sq. ft. furnished suite in the Erickson building in Yaletown – named after famed Vancouver architect Arthur Erickson -- is an extreme example of the heights to which Vancouver’s rental market appears to be soaring.
It’s big money changing hands in a way that mirrors the dynamics of Vancouver’s stratospheric real estate market. But as listing agent Lindy Chow says, it’s all about supply and demand.
“The Erickson is one of the most exclusive buildings in Vancouver,” said the Coldwell Banker Prestige Realty agent. “In terms of the rental market right now, it’s very hot. And this is a competitively priced unit.”
There are only about 30 luxury furnished rentals of this type in downtown Vancouver, she said, and that’s not a lot for the moneyed individuals – some of them movie stars and producers in the booming film industry – looking to rent.
“Obviously these people do have sizable incomes or equity from their home sales,” Chow said. The unit is rented out right now but it becomes vacant Sept. 1, she said.
Paying $174,000 a year for an apartment is out of reach for the average Vancouverite. It’s about ten times what the renter of the average apartment in this city would pay.
But a survey shows even the average apartment price is too much.
Metro Vancouver’s average rent for a two-bedroom unit is about $1,345, the highest in the country, according to a December survey.
A poll of 373 renters by Insights West shows Vancouverites are giving prices like that the thumbs-down: while 30 per cent of renters said their experience was positive, 67 per cent called it negative.
“Two out of three people said they pay too much for their dwelling,” said pollster Mario Canseco. “The key issue is cost.”
Some 42 per cent blamed cost as the reason for their negativity. Coming in second was “bad landlords” at 19 per cent, and behind that was noise issues.
Of those who said the experience is positive, the reasons were good landlords at 36 per cent, and good amenities at 32 per cent.
Canseco said some of those who answered the survey wrote in comments they were feeling like leaving the city.
“This makes a mockery of the system. You want to see people who work in the city and pay taxes in the city being able to live in the city,” he said.
The City of Vancouver is exploring taxing vacant homes with the hopes that it will push some of the empty 10,800 units into the rental market. Most of those units are condos.
