According to a new report, the quality of life of renters in Vancouver is not very high compared to other Canadian cities.
Point2Homes recently examined Canada’s best cities for renters in several categories. No BC cities placed in the top 10 overall, but several cities ranked highly in specific categories.
The report looked at categories such as economy and housing, quality of life, community, and walkability.
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Vancouver not among top 10 best cities for renters
It might not come as a surprise, but due to the high cost of renting in Vancouver, it barely made the top 20 for the best cities to rent in.
Looking at the best overall cities, the highest-ranked BC city was Victoria, which came in at number 11. Vancouver was the next highest-ranked BC city for renters, coming in at #19.
Overall rankings were based on the rentership rate, the average cost of rent, the cost of insurance, and the share of renter households spending less than 30% of income on rent.
North Vancouver ranked 64th overall and had the highest average rent ($2,332) among all cities.
Quality of life
Looking at quality of life, Point2Homes placed Vancouver pretty low on the list, at #75 out of 100 cities. The quality of life score looked at metrics like life satisfaction, perceived life stress, commute time, greenness, walk score, air quality, and crime severity index.
Saanich was the highest-ranked BC city for quality of life (#20), followed by Prince George (#30), and the District of North Vancouver (#43).
Vancouver had the best walk score of all the cities, but that still wasn't enough to raise its overall quality of life ranking.
Community
BC cities were ranked relatively high among the best cities for renters in terms of community. The community ranking looked at things like sense of belonging, elementary and secondary school access, the share of post-secondary education, hospitals per 10,000 people, and recreational and amusement parks.
Victoria came in at #1, while Vancouver ranked #3.
Kelowna, Langley and Prince George rounded out the top 20.
"In Canada's top 100 hotspots for renters, a mix of reasonable housing costs, job opportunities, and access to recreation activities and entertainment options makes for a great quality of life," said Point2Homes.
"Whether renters are drawn to the vibrant energy and liveliness of a big city or the relaxed atmosphere and the sense of community of a small town, they can probably find the perfect place that offers what they need and want most in any of Canada's provinces."
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