The cost of a rental property in Metro Vancouver continues to rise as the market shifts into springtime.
According to liv.rent’s April 2022 Metro Vancouver Rent Report, the average price of an unfurnished one-bedroom rental spiked to $1,908, up $52 from March. This marks a high for Vancouver’s rental prices dating back to February 2019 when liv.rent first started its monthly market reports.
Average rents for one-bedroom, unfurnished properties in Metro Vancouver have been climbing consecutively since January, but April marks the largest month-over-month increase since that time period. Between January and February, rents grew $13 to $1,840 before rising another $16 from February to March up to $1,856 a month.
“Notably, Vancouver itself saw increases in price for both unfurnished and furnished rentals this month, as did nearly every other Metro Vancouver municipality we’re looking at here – with particularly large increases in West Vancouver and North Vancouver,” said liv.rent’s report.
By region, rents for unfurnished, one-bedroom homes were up in North Vancouver, West Vancouver and New Westminster by 6.03 per cent, 7.67 per cent and 2.93 per cent month-to-month. For the same furnished bedroom type, average prices rose 24.51 per cent and 6.98 per cent in Langley and Burnaby compared to March, but were down 17.44 per cent monthly in North Vancouver.
The average rent for an unfurnished, one-bedroom rental in Metro Vancouver will cost you $167 less a month compared to the average furnished counterpart, which is valued at $2,075.
“At different times of the last year, furnished rentals were nearly level with unfurnished units in terms of average price – but now there’s a healthy gap in price between the two,” said the rental report.
Surrey offers the least expensive unfurnished one- and two-bedroom rentals in the Vancouver region, priced at an average of $1,453 and $2,050. For $2,656, Langley has the cheapest unfurnished three-bedroom rental properties.
On average, the most affordable furnished one- and three-bedroom rental homes are also located in Surrey at $1,623 and $2,936. The cheapest two-bedroom properties with furnishings are in New Westminster, priced at an average of $2,158.
In April, the most expensive place to rent continues to be Vancouver at $3.30 a square foot, while Surrey is the cheapest at $2.14 a square feet. Overall, the average rent per square foot in Metro Vancouver is $2.71, slightly higher than Toronto at $2.54.
The majority (31 per cent) of Vancouver’s renters are between 25 to 34 years old, but a chunk of the market is also occupied by those under 25 years old (24 per cent) and renters between 35 and 44 years old (19 per cent). On average, Vancouver renters put 35.64 per cent of their income towards rent, which is slightly above the recommended 30 per cent.
Compared to the rest of Canada, Vancouver is the most expensive rental market at $2,090 for an unfurnished, one-bedroom rental. This beats out Victoria ($1,853) and Toronto ($1,776) by $237 and $314 a month.
