Vancouver actually more affordable . . . if you can find a suite
Andy Ivens
Province
Vancouver rents are the second-least affordable in Canada — but it’s not getting worse, CMHC said yesterday.
While the median rent on a typical two-bedroom apartment was $1,050 this year, a strong economy is pushing up wages faster than rents, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said in a report on rental housing in country’s five-largest cities.
In a comparison of two-bedroom suites, Toronto was the least-affordable city while Montreal had the cheapest rents when compared to incomes, followed by Halifax.
Calgary fell in the middle on affordability, but rental affordability there is falling as rents rose 15.8 per cent while incomes only increased 8.4 per cent this year from last.
For Vancouver residents, the hard part of apartment hunting remains actually finding a “for rent” sign, as the vacancy rate remains under one per cent.
“The median is the 50th percentile,” explained the CMHC’s Robyn Adamache. “On an average basis, the Toronto rents are higher than Vancouver, generally.
“We have strong rental demand here because we’re getting lots of migrants moving into the region and lots of job growth as well,” said Adamache.
B.C.’s rent controls allow a landlord to raise rents by 3.7 per cent in 2008.
“We’re not expecting rents to go down,” said Adamache.
“We’re expecting they will continue increasing in the two- to four-per-cent range.”
With higher incomes on the rise, Adamache said, “Rental affordability has actually improved in Vancouver in the last few years.”
About one million British Columbians live in rental accommodations.
More than half of all Vancouver renters are in what Adamache called “secondary rental units . . . which include investor condos, single-family homes that are rented out by individuals,” compared to “purpose-built” apartment rental buildings.”
© The Vancouver Province 2007