January saw highest one-month Canadian rental rate spike in 30 years: StatsCan

Mar 6 2019, 6:09 am

With the City of Vancouver now deeming $2,056 as the “affordable” rental rate for a one-bedroom unit, and Toronto taking the top spot for the most expensive rent in the country last month, it seems 2019 is shaping up to be an expensive year for renters right across the country.

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And according to Statistics Canada, this rise in rental rates hasn’t been confined to just the big cities either.

In fact, the agency said said that on the national level, rental rates saw the highest one-month increase this past January, topping out at 0.9%.

A spokesperson for Statistics Canada told Daily Hive these latest figures are “the highest since August 1989,” and coincide with a change in methodology for how the agency gathers its data.

“The new rent index methodology uses the same data source as the previous one (LFS), only now the index is calculated using a hedonic model instead of a match model,”  the spokesperson said.

The hedonic model takes a number of factors into account which were not previously considered such as the number of bedrooms.

However, the one-month “movement” of 0.9% in January “reflects price change and not a change in methodology.”

That being said, “the variation we see now will be different than what we’ve seen in the past under the previous methodology,” they added. “We would note, however, that 12-month movements represent a comparison of new and old methodologies.”

As such, Statistics Canada said it is “advising users to exercise caution” when it comes to the interpretation of the 12-month movement for the year following the introduction of the new methodology.

Some decreases in February

And while the cost of rent in Canada’s biggest cities remains expensive (as usual), there were some decreases for the month of February.

According to Padmapper, nine Canadian cities saw an upward trend in rental prices, six decreased, and nine remained flat.

The top five priciest markets in Canada remained unchanged from last month, but prices in some markets in the Metro Vancouver region did fall.

Once again, Toronto took the top spot for the most expensive rent in the country. This month, one bedroom rent increased 0.4% to $2,270 and two bedrooms remained flat at $2,850.

Vancouver had the second most expensive rent in Canada despite one bedroom prices dropping 2.3% to $2,080, while two bedrooms increased 1.5% to $3,280.

Burnaby, BC, stayed put as the third priciest city in Canada. One bedroom rent remained the same at $1,570. Two bedrooms fell 1.7% to $2,250.

In fourth place, Montreal’s one and two bedrooms rent remained flat at $1,500 and $1,780, respectively.

Victoria, BC, remained in fifth place with one bedroom rent remaining the same at $1,350. Two bedrooms saw a significant 5% increase to $1,670.

London, ON, had the largest monthly one bedroom rental growth rate in the country, increasing 4.8% to $990.

The battle for the cheapest one-bedroom rent in the country once again goes to Windsor, Ontario, where you can rent a single-room suite for a cool $750 per month.

Eric ZimmerEric Zimmer

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