April 2022 Metro Vancouver Rent Report

Metro Vancouver’s rent prices have spiked yet again, with average rent across the region up another $52 since March to top $1,900. The average rental rate for an unfurnished, one-bedroom unit is now $1,908 for the month of April.

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 April 2022. 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

Average rental prices across Metro Vancouver have spiked once again, up yet another $52 this month. For April, the region’s average cost for an unfurnished, one-bedroom unit tops $1,900, and is now at $1,908 for the month. This sets yet another high for the area’s average rental rates, going as far back as when our monthly rent reports began in February 2019. Notably, Vancouver itself saw increases in price for both unfurnished and furnished rentals this month, as did nearly every other Metro Vancouver municipality we’re looking at here – with particularly large increases in West Vancouver and North Vancouver.

Month-to-month rent change

This month, unfurnished rentals saw steady increases almost across the board, while furnished rentals were quite a bit more volatile than in previous months.

In terms of unfurnished units, West Vancouver (+7.67%) and North Vancouver (+6.03%) were the biggest movers this month, while most other cities saw only slight price increases. Areas like New Westminster (+2.93%) and Richmond (+1.77%) have been relatively stagnant for a few months now, signalling that prices may have settled down after a hectic winter. In the City of Vancouver itself, the average price for an unfurnished, one-bedroom unit is up 2.50% this April.

Furnished units saw much larger changes this month – even within Vancouver (+6.91%). Langley had the most significant price increase by far, with a 24.51% increase this month. North Vancouver, on the other hand, saw a huge -17.44% drop this April.

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, 35.64% 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? This April, the least expensive cities for square footage are Surrey, Coquitlam, and surprisingly, West Vancouver, while the most expensive remains Vancouver itself.

Overall, the average rent per square foot in Metro Vancouver is $2.71 while in Toronto it’s $2.54.

Renter demographics

Our liv.rent renter demographics have seen a significant shift in recent months, with more and more renters from different age groups now using the platform. We’re now seeing a much more even spread, particularly with the recent influx of renters aged 35+. With that being said, the majority of renters that make up our community are between the ages of 25-34.

Pet-friendly rentals

We’re proud to say that liv.rent continues to be the rental platform with the most pet-friendly rentals. This April, other rental platforms had just 24.00% of units available that were pet-friendly while on liv.rent, a whopping 55.00% of units were pet-friendly.

Average unfurnished vs. furnished rates

The difference in average rent for furnished and unfurnished units is now $167 this April. At different times of the last year, furnished rentals were nearly level with unfurnished units in terms of average price – but now there’s a healthy gap in price between the two.

City breakdown 

Metro Vancouver’s rental averages vary greatly across the region, so we’ve broken up our data by municipality/city to compare the cost of one, two, and three-bedroom rates for both furnished and unfurnished units in different areas.

• Unfurnished, three-bedroom units in West Vancouver now rent for $6,109 per month on average.
• Surrey has the cheapest rental units for both one and two-bedroom unfurnished units, at $1,453 and $2,050 respectively.
• North Vancouver has the most expensive one-bedroom, unfurnished units of any city in Metro Vancouver at $2,344 this month.

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.

Let’s take a look now at some of the latest averages from Vancouver’s many unique neighbourhoods. For April, Downtown Vancouver remains the most expensive neighbourhood to rent in across the board, although Mount Pleasant is close behind in terms of one-bedroom, unfurnished rentals at $2,213.7.

You can take a look at our neighbourhood breakdown 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 Metro Vancouver, be sure to download your copy below.

Most expensive cities in Canada

Vancouver remains the most expensive city in Canada to rent in terms of unfurnished one-bedroom units, with the average one-bedroom, unfurnished unit in the city going for $2,090. Average rent in Toronto is still high this month at $1,776 this April, although Victoria maintains its number two spot with an average rental cost of $1,853.

Downloadable resources

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

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

Rethink The Way You Rent

Not on liv.rent yet? Experience the ease of digital applications & contracts, verified tenants & landlords, virtual tours and more – all on one platform. Sign up for free or download the app.

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

March 2022 Vancouver Rent Report
March 2022 Toronto Rent Report
March 2022 Montreal Rent Report