Vancouver renters won't find apartment hunting any lighter on the wallet this December.
Liv.rent, a rental platform based in Vancouver, creates monthly rent reports for the region and finds that Metro Vancouver has seen a significant increase in prices.
According to the company's latest report, rental prices have reached new highs for the year in December.
While they predicted an upward trend in prices this month over last, report authors note that they "didn’t expect it to be this significant for December."
Rental prices simmered around the same range for several months, but now they have shot up to a yearly high of a whopping $1,831 for an unfurnished one-bedroom unit. In November, the average price for an unfurnished one-bedroom in Metro Vancouver was $1,791.
Nearly across the board, rental prices across Metro Vancouver from November to December experienced some major fluctuations.
"Furnished rentals saw the majority of price action this month, while unfurnished units were comparatively stable, but not without some rises and drops of their own," reads the report.
The average price of furnished units in Richmond declined significantly with a 29.76 per cent drop, with New Westminster exhibiting a similar trend (a drop of 24.12 per cent).
For unfurnished units, West Vancouver saw a drastic 12 per cent increase, while elsewhere Surrey experienced an 8.59 per cent decline from last month.
In Downtown Vancouver, rental averages didn’t budge much compared to surrounding communities. Furnished units were down 5.43 per cent, while unfurnished units saw a modest 2.54 per cent increase.
Rent per square foot in Metro Vancouver
In December, the most affordable places for square footage are Surrey and West Vancouver while the most expensive is Downtown Vancouver.
Overall, the average rent per square foot in Metro Vancouver is $2.71 while in Toronto it’s $2.21.
