Rents in Vancouver continue to rise, with no relief in sight: report

Condos and apartment buildings are seen in downtown Vancouver, B.C., on Thursday February 2, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Vancouver once again has the dubious distinction of being the most expensive city in Canada for renters, along with having the highest year-over-year rate price increase, a new report says.

The average rent in the city was $2,925 in April, up 29.9 per cent from the same time last year when it was $2,331, according to Rentals.ca.

"The average rental rates in Vancouver remained relatively constant throughout the pandemic before experiencing some significant increases in more recent months," the report says.

For a one-bedroom, the average price was $2,280 – up 13.9 per cent from April of 2021. The cost of a two-bedroom was $3,122 – an annual increase of 16.6 per cent.

In a recently-published forecast from Rentals.ca, experts said renters across Metro Vancouver are unlikely to see a break any time in 2022.

Brock Lawson, formerly the manager of rental data for British Columbia for Zonda Urban, shared his predictions with the platform. Rates will continue to rise, he said, as there is no prospect of supply keeping pace with demand.

"There is still a severe supply shortage in the region with little supply that is imminent to launch in the market,” he said, noting there are about 2,500 units of purpose-built rental planned for the coming year.

“Unfortunately, it would take several years of well-above-average rental apartment construction to shrink the current massive supply deficit in this market.”

An expected influx of immigration, the return of post-secondary students to campuses and workers to offices are all factors that will drive up competition for the relatively few units available, he added.

He also said some pandemic trends like virtual showings and online applications will persist. However, the days of landlords offering incentives to prospective tenants are decidedly done.