For the second consecutive quarter, Vancouver maintained its status as the most expensive city to rent a home in Canada, according to the Zonda Urban National Rental Report for Q1-2024.
Metro Vancouver was the only major market to experience a decrease in per square foot — by one cent. The area went from $4.34 in Q4-2023 to $4.33 in Q1 of this year. Most major markets in Canada experienced an increase in average rent per square foot values for the quarter.
The most expensive zone in Canada is Metro Vancouver’s downtown core, at $5.01 per square foot. Moving outside of B.C., both Calgary and Ottawa continue to experience some of the strongest growth in downtown rental rates in Canada. Calgary sat at $2.25 per square foot in Q1-2022 and rose to $2.94 in Q1-2024. Ottawa went from just over $2.80 to $3.11 during the same period.
Meanwhile in Edmonton, rates continue to rise (from $2.12 in Q4-2023 to $2.20 per square foot in this year’s first quarter), and overall average rental rates for newer purpose-built rental buildings in the city are up 34 per cent from three years ago. However, Edmonton is still the least expensive city for rentals in the nation.
Vacancy issues continue to plague GTHA
The rental supply in the Greater Toronto Hamilton Area (GTHA) remained high for Q1-2024. The GTHA continued to record the highest overall vacancy at 10.8 per cent for the second quarter in a row as more than 1,700 units have been recently added to the market. However, overall vacancy did go down in the area, indicating strong rental demand and the ability to absorb new product in this market.
Vacancies in the first quarter were the lowest in Metro Vancouver at 1.2 per cent. Calgary placed second at 1.5 per cent. Stabilized vacancy was highest in the GTHA and Kelowna at 2.8 and 2.7 per cent, respectively.
Edmonton and Calgary were the only markets where overall vacancy increased in the first quarter of the year, which can be attributed to seven and eight new project launches occurring respectively over the past three months.
