December 2021 Vancouver Rent Report

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Average rental rates in Vancouver have soared this month to a new yearly high, offset by steep drops in rental prices for some unit types and municipalities/cities.

You can get the latest updates on the Vancouver rental market straight to your inbox when you subscribe to keep on top of the latest rent trends.

Let’s take a look now at the current rental costs and overarching trends in Vancouver for December 2021. Don’t forget, you can download the entire report as a one-page infographic PDF below.

Jump to the following Vancouver Rent Report sections:

Average rent across Metro Vancouver

We predicted a continued upward trend for Metro Vancouver rental prices, but didn’t expect it to be this significant for December. After months of simmering around the same range, rental averages have once again shot up this month for another yearly high of $1,831 for an unfurnished one-bedroom unit.

Month-to-month rent change

Rental prices across Metro Vancouver from November 2021 to December 2021 experienced some major fluctuations practically across the board. Furnished rentals saw the majority of price action this month, while unfurnished units were comparatively stable, but not without some rises and drops of their own.

The average price of furnished units in Richmond declined significantly with a -29.76% drop, with New Westminster exhibiting a similar trend (-24.12%) this month.

For unfurnished units, West Vancouver saw a drastic +12.15% increase, while elsewhere Surrey experienced a -8.59% decline from last month.

In Downtown Vancouver, rental averages didn’t budge much compared to surrounding communities. Furnished units were down -5.43%, while unfurnished units saw a modest 2.54% increase.

Income-to-rent ratio

We gather data on renters’ income-to-rent ratio quarterly and our most recent data shows that renters in Vancouver who use liv.rent are paying, on average, 35.92% of their income towards rent.

While traditional financial advice would be to spend no more than 30% of your income on rent, this advice is perhaps not well suited to the realities of renting in cities like Vancouver.

Still, landlords and property managers should look to see that a tenant can reasonably afford rent compared to how much money they make as part of their tenant screening process.

Rent per square foot

Where’s the cheapest place to rent in Metro Vancouver by how much space you get? In December, the most affordable places for square footage are Surrey and West Vancouver while the most expensive is Downtown Vancouver.

Overall, the average rent per square foot in Metro Vancouver is $2.71 while in Toronto it’s $2.21.

Renter demographics

Our renter demographics have seen a significant change this December, with an influx of renters aged 35+. Particularly notable is the increase in renters aged 45-54, and 55+, which are up from 5.00% and 3.00% from last month, respectively.

Pet-friendly rentals

We’re proud to say that liv.rent continues to be the rental platform with the most pet-friendly rentals. In December, other rental platforms had 31% of units available that were pet-friendly while on liv.rent, 39% of units were pet-friendly.

Average unfurnished vs. furnished rates

The price difference between average rent for furnished and unfurnished one-bedroom units has levelled off to just $37 this month. For the past few months, we’ve seen an ongoing trend of furnished and unfurnished units growing increasingly close in price, and this month sees them pull neck-in-neck owing to sharp declines in some Metro Vancouver municipalities and cities.

City breakdown 

Since rent in Metro Vancouver varies, we’ve broken up our data by municipality/city so you can compare the cost of one, two, and three-bedroom rates for both furnished and unfurnished units.

• Furnished one-bedroom units in Richmond were particularly affordable this month, at just $1,440 compared to an average of $1,740 for unfurnished one-bedroom units.
• In New Westminster, furnished one and two-bedroom units were markedly cheaper than unfurnished ones.
• West Vancouver has the priciest unfurnished three-bedroom units by far this month, at an average of $5,033

Neighbourhood breakdown

We’ve broken down Vancouver into its individual neighbourhoods for a more complete look at the city’s rental markets. For a further breakdown of neighbourhoods in municipalities and cities outside of Vancouver, be sure to download our complete Rent Report.

With that aside, let’s take a look at some of the latest averages from Vancouver’s many unique neighbourhoods. Downtown remains the most expensive place to rent, at $2,180 for a one-bedroom unit. Vancouver West isn’t far behind this month though, climbing to an average of $2,002.

Take a look at our breakdown by neighbourhood for unfurnished units in Vancouver here. For the complete report, including furnished rentals for Vancouver neighbourhoods as well as full information for other cities in Greater Vancouver, be sure to download your copy below.

Most expensive cities in Canada

B.C. is the most expensive place to be a renter when it comes to unfurnished one-bedroom units. Vancouver is the most expensive at $1,831, but Victoria has surpassed Toronto for this month by climbing all the way to an average of $1,811.

Rent in Toronto has still continued to grow though, and is now in the number three spot at a similarly high $1,766 average for the month of December.

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Downloadable resources

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Make Zoom calls fun and informative when you use the latest rental averages and trends as your virtual background.

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Rental resources for B.C. renters

You can read these comprehensive guides for more information on renting in B.C. and using liv.rent to streamline your rental process.

• BC Residential Tenancy Agreement Explained
• Guide to BC Tenancy Forms
  
• The Complete User Guide To liv.rent For Landlords & Property Managers
• The Ultimate Renter’s Guide To Using liv.rent

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Subscribe to receive these monthly updates on the Vancouver rental market. Discover last month’s Rent Reports below:

November 2021 Vancouver Rent Report
November 2021 Toronto Rent Report
November 2021 Montreal Rent Report