Average rent for a two-bedroom in Vancouver leaves most folks broke

Oct 13 2023, 5:32 pm

If you’re looking to upgrade from your expensive one-bedroom Vancouver apartment to a two-bedroom, you better have won the lottery or have access to the Bank of Mom and Dad without interest.

According to the most recent rent report from Rentals.ca, one-bedroom apartments saw a bit of a drop in average rent, while two-bedroom apartments continue to see an increase in Vancouver.

In September, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment was $2,976, a 0.4% drop month-over-month but a 10.1% increase year-over-year. For a two-bedroom, rent reached $3,908, a 0.7% increase month-over-month, 11.1% year-over-year.

You get a shocking result when looking at average salaries and the average cost of expenses, not including rent, when it comes to how little most will have leftover in Vancouver.

So, you fancy a two-bedroom?

Over a year, based on the average rent for a two-bedroom, you’re looking at a whopping $46,896 per year.

Chase & Associates, a licensed insolvency trustee, suggests that the average expenses for a single person in BC, not including rent, is $1,362 per month, give or take. Over a year, that’s $16,344.

So, expenses and rent combined for a two-bedroom apartment, you’re looking at an annual amount of $63,240.

Talent.com, a Canadian job board that also does salary reports, suggests that the average salary for a Vancouver resident, based on nearly 4,000 salaries surveyed, is $63,087.

That’s an income of $63,087 versus the annual expense of $63,240. In other words, unless you’re working two jobs, you cannot afford the average two-bedroom apartment in Vancouver with a job that pays an average salary.

For a one-bedroom apartment over a year, you’re looking at $35,712 plus the same amount for expenses ($16,344), resulting in $52,056 for all expenses annually, leaving you with $11,031 based on the average salary for a single person.

Rent in other BC cities

two-bedroom vancouver

Rentals.ca

While Vancouver is by far the most expensive city to rent in in Canada still, Burnaby is rising fast.

In September, the average rent for a one-bedroom in Burnaby reached $2,700, a 5.7% increase month-over-month and a considerable spike of 22.4% year-over-year.

Two bedrooms reached $3,411, a -0.6% drop month-over-month but another significant increase of 21.2% year-over-year.

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