Vancouver average rent down for 17th month

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 average rent is over $100 behind the new leader, at $2,536 for a one-bedroom and $3,414 for a two-bedroom.

—With files from Amy Beeman and Ben Bouguerra