Metro Vancouver renters face the highest prices in Canada -- but last year's market wasn't any easier on the wallet.
Nearly every month saw rental prices across the Lower Mainland climb, with costs only declining slightly in a couple of months in 2022.
And at the start of 2022, the average cost for an unfurnished one-bedroom unit in the region was $1,827, which is a whopping $400 lower than the average price for the final month of the year.
According to liv.rent's annual rent report, 2022 was "an historic year for Vancouver’s rental market" and locals should expect prices to keep climbing.
Acrosss the country, Vancouver saw the highest rent price increases the average one-, two-, and three-bedroom furnished and unfinished units.
"Rising interest rates and increased demand largely contributed to this rise in rental rates, as B.C.’s population grew by 2.25% in 2022 while the population of Canada grew by 1.84%," write the report's authors.
Vancouver experienced a much larger increase in average rent prices due to a substantial rise in demand for rental housing.
Vancouver rent prices saw the most significant changes
While the Bank of Canada has indicated that interest rate increases may temporarily pause, it has also stated that "there may be more on the way if the country doesn’t fall below its 2% target for inflation, Liv.rent notes.
If interest rate increases continue, rental markets across Canada will see an increase in prices to match the trend.
During the October to December period, rental price increases across Canada were "largely influenced by the Bank of Canada’s announcement that they were increasing key interest rates," according to the data.
Announcements were made on Sept. 7, 2022, and Oct. 26, 2022, which aligned with the timing when rental prices continued trending upwards.
Compared to 2021, Metro Vancouver saw a noticeable increase in average rent prices during 2022. This applied to all cities in Metro Vancouver and across all unit types (both furnished and unfurnished one-, two-, and three-bedroom units).
The cities that saw the biggest increase in rental prices are broken down by unit type.
Furnished:
- One-bedroom: Vancouver (+34%), followed by Richmond (+28%) and North Vancouver (+25%)
- Two-bedroom: Vancouver (+45%), followed by West Vancouver (+40%) and Coquitlam (+36%)
- Three-bedroom: Vancouver (+60%) and North Vancouver (+60%), followed by West Vancouver (+49%)
Unfurnished:
- One-bedroom: West Vancouver (+33%), followed by Richmond (+26%) and Vancouver (+24%)
- Two-bedroom: West Vancouver (+39%), followed by Vancouver (+29%) and Burnaby (+26%)
- Three-bedroom: West Vancouver (+52%), followed by Vancouver (+40%) and North Vancouver (+37%)
While rental costs have decreased across the Metro Vancouver region, prices for one-, two-, and three-bedroom, unfurnished units in the City of Vancouver all increased in March 2023. In fact, B.C.'s biggest city is now the priciest place to rent an apartment in Canada (last month West Vancouver held the title).
