As Toronto and Vancouver duel for the title of ‘most unaffordable housing in Canada’, new data shows Vancouver is winning — or is that losing — the battle over who has the highest rent.
The June report from rentals.ca says Vancouver led the country with an average of $2,377 for a one-bedroom.
Three other B.C. cities made their way into the top 20 including, Burnaby ($2,012) in spot three, Victoria ($1,870) in ninth and Surrey ($1,642) ranked nineteenth. Burnaby was third in the country for the biggest increase in average rent at6.9 per cent.
The cheapest of the 35 communities surveyed were Saskatoon at $975 and Red Deer at $988.
Rent is climbing everywhere in the country, the average rent for all Canadian properties listed on rentals.ca was $1,888 per month in May 2022, which represents a year-over-year increase of 10.5 per cent.
The website also observed a month-over-month increase of 3.7 per cent which is the largest monthly increase it has seen since May of 2019. The data-set includes single-detached, semi-detached, townhouse, condominium apartments and rental apartments.
Due to this exponential rent increase, Paul Sullivan, principal and regional leader for the tax management firm Ryan, said some builders and many businesses are simply giving up and moving elsewhere amidst a critical affordable housing shortage.
“We’re peddling backwards at high speed, against rising immigration, interest rates, inflation and construction costs with a chronic, growing home shortage,” said Sullivan in a media release.
He advocates addressing the affordable housing crisis by: listening to experts’ and businesses’ feedback; reduction of red tape and regulations permitting housing and business licenses; mandating housing approval times and creating more affordable housing using open land.
RELATED: B.C. suburbs could see increased demand for rental units as people work from home
