Burnaby is an amazing place to live. It was certainly a great place to grow up.
But these rental prices are absurd and continue to push local residents to brink as COVID-19 makes their jobs even more precarious.
The good news, if you can call it that, is the average rent for all Canadian properties listed on Rentals.ca in December was $1,723 per month - down 7.1 per cent year over year. But this was the lowest rate of decline since May, according to Rentals.ca’s and Bullpen Research & Consulting’s latest National Rent Report.
A tenant looking for a rental property in December would have saved about $130 a month on average from a year earlier.
Great, but Burnaby residential rents stayed pretty much flat so not much relief.
Burnaby came in eighth for average monthly rent for a one-bedroom home at $1,676 and fifth for average monthly rent for a two-bedroom at $2,186, according to the report.
Vancouver overtook Toronto on the list of 35 cities for the most expensive average monthly rent in December for a one-bedroom home. It’s the first time Toronto has not topped the list since Rentals.ca and Bullpen Research & Consulting began producing the National Rent Report more than two years ago.
Vancouver had the most expensive average monthly rents of the 35 cities on the list for December for both a one-bedroom home at $1,855 and for a two-bedroom at $2,635. Year over year, average monthly rent in December for a one-bedroom home in Vancouver was down 4.4 per cent and down 9 per cent for a two-bedroom.
Other cities in in Metro Vancouver were listed:
Richmond finished fifth on the list for average monthly rent for a one-bedroom home at $1,730 and ninth for average monthly rent for a two-bedroom at $2,082.
New Westminster finished 14th on the list for average monthly rent for a one-bedroom home at $1,511 and 16th for average monthly rent for a two-bedroom at $1,852.
Surrey came in 19th for average monthly rent for a one-bedroom home at $1,403 and 18th for average monthly rent for a two-bedroom at $1,744.
North Vancouver was not included on the list, but average monthly rent for a one-bedroom in the city was $1,871, and average monthly rent for a two-bedroom was $2,545.
Victoria finished 12th for average monthly rent in December for a one-bedroom home at $1,537 and 10th for average monthly rent for a two-bedroom at $2,059.
Vancouver's average monthly rent for apartments and condo rentals was down 6.7 per cent annually. Overall, 17 of the 23 cities and areas in the chart below saw annual declines for average rents for apartments and condo rentals.
British Columbia’s average monthly rent increased 9.5 per cent in 2020 over 2019.
Condominium apartments in Canada took a big hit in average rents in 2020, falling 18.5 per cent annually to $2,009 per month from $2,465 per month in December 2019.
