All-time high: Median rent for a one-bedroom hits $2,400 in Vancouver

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The cost to rent in Vancouver has increased yet again, as median prices reached an all-time high.

According to Zumper, median rent prices increased 4.3% month-over-month to a new high of $2,400, while two-bedrooms increased 4.2% to $3,440. This helps Vancouver maintain its position as the most expensive place in Canada.

Both one- and two-bedrooms are up around 20% since the same period last year.

Median rent prices in Toronto have kept up with Vancouver for many of Zumper’s previous reports, but they actually fell 4.8% month-over-month to $2,000, giving Vancouver a sizable lead over the rest of Canada.

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Median rent prices in Victoria also saw a big spike, as one-bedrooms increased 5.9% month-over-month to $1,990, and two-bedrooms increased 5.5% month-over-month to $2,480.

In Burnaby, median rent prices saw a significant drop, as one-bedrooms fell 5.8% month-over-month to $1,940, and two-bedrooms fell 4% month-over-month to $2,640.

Here’s how the top 15 most expensive places to rent in Canada shape up.

Zumper

Just out of view at #16, is Abbotsford, BC, where the median rent for a one-bedroom ($1,380) is nearly $1,100 cheaper than in Vancouver. That drop pales in comparison to how cheap it is to rent in Edmonton compared to Vancouver.

In Edmonton, median rent for a one-bedroom is $1,000, or $1,400 less than in Vancouver. A two-bedroom isn’t much more ($1,250).

Median and average rent are two very different metrics. Median basically means that half of the available units are above and half of the units are below the respective one and two-bedroom rates listed in Zumper’s analysis. Zumper looks at asking prices for rentals across big cities.

“For our monthly rent reports, we aggregate data from over one million active listings to calculate median asking rents for the top 100 cities by population and nearly 300 additional cities within major metro areas.”