A reprieve may finally be in sight for Victoria renters who have endured years of seemingly endless rising prices.
The average cost of a one-bedroom in Victoria was $2,053 in May, according to the latest National Rent Report from Rentals.ca and Urbanation, marking a 1.4 per cent decrease from the previous month and a 5.3 per cent drop from May 2024. The average cost of a two-bedroom reached $2,703, a 1.4 per cent jump from April but a 5 per cent decrease from May 2024.
“The easing in rents this year across most parts of the country is a positive for housing affordability in Canada following a period of extremely strong rent inflation lasting from 2022 to 2024,” said Shaun Hildebrand, president of Urbanation. “Rents have recently been impacted by the combination of a surge in supply from new apartment completions, as well as a slowdown in population growth and a heightened level of economic uncertainty.”
The rental crunch hit Victoria hard in July 2022 when the costs of a one-bedroom reached $2,107, a 20 per cent jump from July 2021 and the highest rate of increase in the country. Rentals.ca figures show the cost of a two-bedroom in Victoria was $2,836 in July 2022, up 34.8 per cent from the year prior.
Across Canada, average asking rents remain 5.7 per cent higher than two years ago and 12.6 per cent above levels from three years ago. Over the past five years, rents in Canada have increased by an average of 4.1 per cent annually, outpacing average wage growth of roughly 3 per cent.
The May figures from Rentals.ca place Victoria as the 18th highest rent in Canada. North Vancouver tops the list with average one-bedroom rents of $2,620, followed by Vancouver at $2,544 and Burnaby at $2,337.
Among Canada’s largest cities, Calgary experienced the steepest annual decline in apartment rents of all types (-7.9 per cent to $1,928), followed by Toronto (-6.8 per cent to $2,594) and Vancouver (-5.9 per cent to $2,830).
Rents have declined nationally year-over-year for eight consecutive months. However, rents remained 5.7 per cent higher than two years earlier and 12.6 per cent higher than three years earlier.
