For the first time in six months, asking rents have seen a monthly increase across Canada.
In this month’s rents report by Rentals.ca, it found the average asking rent for all property types this March was at $2,119, a 1.5 percent increase month-over-month.
The report finds the increase can be related to a seasonal jump in demand after lease activity slowed down in the winter, with renters more active because of recent improvements in affordability.
Despite the increase, this March’s rent is 2.8 percent lower than the rent last March, making it six months in a row where rent has gone down annually.
“In the five years since the onset of COVID-19 in March 2020, average asking rents in Canada increased by 17.8 %,” said Rentals.ca
“Purpose-built rents grew 35.5% in the past five years to an average of $2,086, despite registering a 1.5% decrease in the past year. Condo rents, which declined 3.8% from a year ago to an average of $2,232, were only 0.6% higher than five years earlier in March 2020. Other secondary rentals saw average asking rents fall 5.6% annually to $2,186, with a 5-year increase of 13.6%.”
They say for BC, the average rent was at $2,480 this March, a 0.6 percent decrease from last year, with three-bedroom rents up by 1.9 percent, and purpose-built apartments by 36.9 percent.
Of the cities to see a decrease in rent, only one comes from Vancouver Island. Nanaimo has an average rent of $1,766, a 1.6 percent decrease compared to last year.
To read the full report, click here.
