"Most affordable" BC city is becoming an unlikely rental hotspot
An unlikely BC city — one that is a decent bit away from Metro Vancouver — happens to be the most affordable and one of the fastest-growing rental markets in the province.
That unlikely city is Abbotsford, which the latest Rentals.ca rent report had some interesting insights about.
The report, which features insights from August, calls Abbotsford the “most affordable BC market,” with an average asking rent of $1,830 monthly for a one-bedroom unit.
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The Abbotsford Craigslist website corroborates this, showing a large number of available units in the $1,500 to $1,800 range.
Abbotsford saw rentals grow by 6.5% in August. Nanaimo is the only BC city seeing more growth (6.8%) in the rental market.
For Metro Vancouver, rent is down month-over-month for most cities included in the report.
Nine of the 25 most expensive mid-sized rental markets in Canada are in BC, “including the top four with average apartment asking rents of $3,115 (North Vancouver), $2,913 (Burnaby), $2,843 (Richmond), and $2,788 (Coquitlam).”
Vancouver remains the most expensive rental market in Canada. In August, the average asking rent for a one-bedroom apartment was $2,708. Burnaby follows Vancouver, with an average asking rent of $2,500 for a one-bedroom.
Vancouver (AlbertArt/Shutterstock)
For both Vancouver and Burnaby, that represents a 1.9% and 2.6% drop, respectively, compared to last month. The year-over-year drop is even more impressive, as rent in Vancouver fell 9.4% compared to last August.
The asking rent for a two-bedroom unit in Vancouver continues to be quite high, dropping slightly to $3,632 last month.
(The Top 15) Rentals.ca
Rentals.ca warns that we could be at the beginning of an upward trend for rental rates in Vancouver.
“While asking rents in Vancouver declined annually for their ninth straight month in August with a 6.0% decrease, apartment rents have begun to trend up again, reaching a nine-month high of $3,116,” the report states.
That $3,116 figure is the total average of asking rents across all bedroom types.
In Surrey, rent decreased month-over-month in August by 0.8%, with an average asking rate of $2,120. A two-bedroom unit in Surrey is actually cheaper than a one-bedroom unit in Vancouver. The average asking rent for a two-bedroom unit in Surrey was $2,599 in August.
Over on Vancouver Island, Victoria falls just outside the top 10 most expensive rentals. In August, the average asking for a one-bedroom dropped 0.8% to $2,172.
That still marks a year-over-year increase of 4.4%. For a two-bedroom unit, the average asking rent in August was $2,838 per month, a 1.5% increase compared to July.