May 2026 Metro Vancouver Rent Report

At a glance

• Metro Vancouver rents continue to decline across all unit types
  • Rents across Metro Vancouver have declined compared to last year, with one-bedroom units falling to $2,086 (-8.31%), two-bedroom units to $2,696 (-5.30%), and three-bedroom units to $3,513 (-4.04%). This broad-based drop reflects continued easing in rental demand across the region.
    
• Core and suburban markets show diverging rental trends
  • While the City of Vancouver saw month-over-month declines across all major unit types, some suburban markets showed mixed movement. Surrey two-bedroom rents increased to $2,118 (+1.05%), and New Westminster three-bedroom units rose to $3,349 (+1.98%), highlighting uneven demand across the region.
    
• Larger rental units are seeing the biggest price corrections
  • Three-bedroom units have experienced the most significant adjustments, declining to $3,513 (-2.14%) since the start of the year and dropping as much as -18.96% in Burnaby year over year. This suggests pricing pressure is more pronounced in higher-priced segments of the market.
    

Download liv.rent’s 2026 Canada Rental Market Trends Report for in-depth insights and forecasts on average rent prices, regional market comparisons, key economic drivers, and emerging AI trends shaping Canada’s rental landscape.

As of April 29, 2026, the Bank of Canada maintains its policy interest rate at 2.25%, unchanged for the fourth consecutive decision. Experts predict this rate will be maintained through most of 2026. Additionally, the 2026 rent increase limit is capped at 2.3%.

Let’s look now at the current rental costs and overarching trends in Vancouver for May 2026.

Average rent across Metro Vancouver

This month, the average rent price for an unfurnished, one-bedroom unit went down by $4, to a new average of $2,086/month. Since May 2025, Metro Vancouver’s average rate for an unfurnished one-bedroom unit has decreased by $189.

Planning on raising rent this year? B.C.’s new annual allowable rent increase limit for 2026 is 2.3%. Find out when and how to increase rent and ensure you comply with provincial guidelines by reading our updated Guide to B.C. Rent Increases.

Month-to-month rent change

To better understand how rent prices have changed in Metro Vancouver cities, let’s look at the most significant changes for both furnished and unfurnished one-bedroom units this month.

Several cities saw notable changes in average rent prices this month. Looking at furnished one-bedroom units, Burnaby (5.06%) and Surrey (4.37%) saw slight increases, while New Westminster (-5.10%) and Langley (-2.56%) saw marginal decreases.

Looking now at unfurnished one-bedroom units, West Vancouver (+2.30%) and New Westminster (+1.46%) were the only cities that saw a positive increase.

Looking now at unfurnished one-bedroom units, Burnaby (-0.27%), North Vancouver (-0.23%), Langley (-2.03%), and Surrey (-0.29%) saw minor decreases. West Vancouver (2.30%) and New Westminster (1.46%) all recorded increases.

Rent per square foot

Where’s the cheapest place to rent in Metro Vancouver based on how much space you get? As of May 2026, the average rent per square foot increased up to $3.11/sq. ft.. The least expensive cities for square footage are West Vancouver ($2.40/sq. ft.), Langley ($2.55/sq. ft.), and Richmond ($2.68/sq.ft.). Meanwhile, the most expensive cities for square footage are Vancouver ($3.87/sq. ft.), North Vancouver ($3.69/sq.ft.), and Burnaby ($3.59/sq. ft.).

Active listing data

We’ll also examine detailed statistics for currently active listings available on the market to see which property types and number of bedrooms are the most represented. For renters, these numbers show which types of units you’re most likely to encounter in the Metro Vancouver region, while for landlords, you can assess how much competition you’ll face based on the current supply.

Active listings by property type

As of May 2026, apartments were the most common rental property type, representing 71.60% of active listings on the market. Partial houses were the second-most rented unit type this month, at 16.24% of active listings currently available to rent, followed by houses at 7.87%.

Active listings by number of bedrooms

In terms of the number of bedrooms, we saw a spread across active listings on the market this May. One-bedroom units were the most common type of listing this month at 46.45%, though two-bedroom units held a very near share, representing 43.03% of all active listings on the market. Three-bedrooms rounded out at 10.52% of listings.

Average unfurnished vs. furnished rates

Average prices for a furnished one-bedroom unit increased while unfurnished one-bedroom units dropped in Metro Vancouver this month. Furnished one-bedrooms increased (0.56%) to $2,165/month, while unfurnished units went down (-0.20%) to $2,086/month. Currently, a furnished one-bedroom unit rents for more than an unfurnished one-bedroom unit by $79/month on average.

Looking for our full May 2026 Metro Vancouver Rent Report? Download your copy here to get all the latest insights, including a detailed breakdown by neighbourhood.

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 furnished and unfurnished units in different areas. Here are some highlights from our most recent findings:

• All unfurnished one-bedroom rental prices decreased across neighbourhoods except West Vancouver and New Westminster.
• Meanwhile, all unfurnished three-bedroom units decreased across neighbourhoods except Surrey, North Vancouver, New Westminster, and Langley.
• All furnished units in Vancouver increased in price, while all unfurnished decreased.

Neighbourhood breakdown

We’ve broken down Vancouver into its 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. West Point Grey/UBC is the city’s most expensive neighbourhood to rent in this month, with an unfurnished one-bedroom unit renting for $2,833/month, while Sunset-Victoria Fraserview is the cheapest at $1,727/month.

We’ve added more new neighbourhoods to our monthly reports that aren’t shown in the data below. To see data on these additional neighbourhoods, statistics for furnished rentals, and neighbourhood breakdowns for other cities in Metro Vancouver, be sure to download your copy of our full report here.

Most expensive cities in Canada

This May, all of the country’s most expensive cities are located in Metro Vancouver. West Vancouver is the most expensive city in the country to rent in, followed by North Vancouver, Vancouver, Burnaby, and Richmond.

Other rental data

These insights are exclusive to our blog and are intended to give more context to each month’s rental data. Based on data sourced directly from liv.rent, these statistics provide a more comprehensive overview of the current rental situation in Canada.

Renter demographics

On liv.rent, our renter demographics are fairly balanced across all different age groups. Most of our users are now fairly evenly spread between those aged 25-34, and those aged between 35-44. There are also a notable number of users under 25 years old.

Pet-friendly rentals

We’re proud to say that liv.rent continues to be the rental platform with the most pet-friendly rentals. This May, other rental platforms had just 22.00% of units available that were pet-friendly, while on liv.rent, 54.00% of all listed units were pet-friendly.

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Downloadable resources

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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

Data collection methodology

Our monthly rent reports use data from our own liv.rent listings, as well as data our team manually collects from other popular listing sites – looking at available basement suites, apartments, condos, townhouses, semi-detached houses, and single-detached houses for each area.

When collecting this data, we do exclude luxury properties listed at over $5,000, as well as rooms for rent and shared accommodation. Investing in manual data collection means that we only consider the current month’s listing, since we can filter out duplicate listings and older ads that haven’t been removed.

Another key difference between our data collection methods and some government agencies like the CMHC is that we only include current asking rent prices. Many official reports will include data for entire buildings in their reports, which tends to skew numbers lower since many units are already occupied, and may be rent-controlled or rented for significantly lower than the current rates.

As we are a Canadian rental platform founded and based in Vancouver, we want to ensure that we’re providing a completely accurate depiction of the rental market in the cities we look at.

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Vancouver Rent Report
Ontario Rent Report
Montreal Rent Report
Calgary and Edmonton Rent Report