North Vancouver overtakes Vancouver as most expensive Canadian city to rent
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A new rental report comparing data from across Canada shows that the price of renting a home in Metro Vancouver is still dropping.
The report from Rentals.ca and Urbanation shows rents fell by 5.9 per cent in Vancouver last month, compared to May 2024, to an average of $2,830.
The region also saw the country’s largest decline in shared rent, with a just under 10 per cent drop.
“The easing in rents this year across most parts of the country is a positive for housing affordability in Canada following a period of extremely strong rent inflation lasting from 2022 to 2024,” said Shaun Hildebrand, President of Urbanation. “Rents have recently been impacted by the combination of a surge in supply from new apartment completions, as well as a slowdown in population growth and a heightened level of economic uncertainty.”
North Vancouver is the most expensive place to rent in the country, with a one-bedroom home coming in at $2,620 a month, followed by Vancouver, Burnaby, and Coquitlam.
Toronto is in the number five spot at $2,300 a month for a one-bedroom.
Despite the continued drop, Rentals found that the asking price for rentals across the country is still up 12 per cent over the last three years.
Vancouver has been unseated as the most expensive city to rent a home in Canada, but its successor isn’t far away.
An April report from Rentals.ca says the average rent in North Vancouver has reached the top of the chart at $2,680 for a one-bedroom and $3,563 for a two-bedroom.
Once again, the top four most expensive cities to rent a home in the country are located in the Lower Mainland. Behind North Vancouver comes Vancouver, Coquitlam, and Burnaby.
The report says Vancouver average rent prices have seen a 5.5 per cent decrease from April last year. But Giacomo Ladas, with Rentals.ca, says that doesn’t make for affordability.
“As we know, Vancouver is an extremely expensive market in Canada. Rents have skyrocketed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and then they got to a point, like most of these major markets, where they had nowhere to go but down,” said Ladas.
He says, finally, increased supply and decreased demand have forced the rates down, but only in comparison to the heights reached in recent years.
Ladas says April is the “17th consecutive month now, where Vancouver has seen a year-over-year decline” in average rental prices.
Vancouver’s average rent is over $100 behind the new leader, at $2,536 for a one-bedroom and $3,414 for a two-bedroom.
