Why Vancouver saw a major rental market shift last year
The rental market in Metro Vancouver saw a pronounced change last year. The region is known for its rapidly rising housing prices — and rental fees to match — but in 2024, things finally cooled off.
Apartments are being listed at up to 10 per cent less than landlords were charging last year. Ravi Kahlon, B.C.’s Minister of Housing, has said publicly the levelling off of rental prices is a huge win amid the housing crisis.
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The change in direction following rapid post-pandemic rental price increases is the subject of a new report from liv.rent that examines what rental prices in Vancouver and surrounding cities are doing and predicts where we could be going from here.
Rental prices for one-bedroom apartments are nearly the same as they were this time last year, according to its 2025 Rental Market Trend Report released Wednesday. One-bedrooms listed on its platform are less than one per cent more expensive now than 12 months ago — a significant change than the 10 per cent year-over-year price hike seen in 2023.
Liv.rent believes declining immigration is partly to blame for settling rent prices. Canada’s federal government tightened caps on immigration this year, and fewer people are moving to BC interprovincially.
liv.rent
At the same time, many new rental homes were completed in 2024. However, few starts were initiated, meaning supply pressure could get worse in the years to come.
Certain neighbourhoods in Metro Vancouver saw steeper declines in rent prices than others. The West End and downtown core saw the most pronounced price declines over the last year. Richmond also saw softening rental prices as people left the city.
As for cities building the most new housing? North Vancouver leads the Metro Vancouver region for the fastest-developing city, with a surge in housing starts and 68 per cent increase in housing completion since last year.
But despite softening of rental prices, cities in the Lower Mainland still make up the top five most expensive cities in all of Canada.
Two-thirds of landlords say they’re not making a profit
There’s a mismatch in sentiment between landlords and tenants as well. Live.rent surveyed 350 individuals for its report, and two-thirds of the landlords reported not making a profit.
Landlords say there’s weak interest, and it’s hard to cover expenses.
Tenants, meanwhile, say competition for housing is fierce, and prices are too high to be affordable. Tenants are calling for rent control between tenancies to control prices, while landlords say they need more flexibility to make their finances work.
Increased housing completions and people leaving the province mean a rapid rise in rental prices in the Lower Mainland has eased. However, with new housing starts not keeping pace, this may only be a brief reprieve from the region’s housing crisis.