April 2023 Metro Vancouver Rent Report

At a glance

• This April, the average rent for a one-bedroom, unfurnished unit in Metro Vancouver has risen by $55 – bringing the region’s average cost to $2,263.
• Since April 2022, the average rent for an unfurnished, one-bedroom unit in Metro Vancouver has increased by $355, or +18.61%
• Burnaby had the most expensive rent per square foot in Metro Vancouver this month, at an average cost of $3.88/sq. ft.

Looking for our full April 2023 Metro Vancouver Rent Report? Download your copy here to get all the latest insights, including a detailed breakdown by neighbourhood.

Metro Vancouver’s average region-wide rent prices have increased this April as temperatures begin to warm. This follows the Bank of Canada’s latest announcement where they temporarily paused their interest rate increases, signalling that rates may stay as they are so long as inflation continues to slow. Despite this, demand is still high in Canada’s major rental markets so it’s uncertain whether prices will continue to rise throughout 2023, or if they’ll gradually return to previous levels.

We’ve recently published our 2022 Canada-wide Annual Rent Report with even more rental data and statistics, including overarching trends and predictions for the year ahead. You can download your copy here.

Let’s take a look now at the current rental costs and overarching trends in Vancouver for April 2023. Don’t forget, you can download the entire report as a one-page infographic PDF below.

Average rent across Metro Vancouver

Reversing a temporary downward trend, Metro Vancouver’s region-wide average rent prices for an unfurnished, one-bedroom unit have increased this April. This month, the average rent for a one-bedroom, unfurnished unit has risen by $55 – bringing the region’s average cost to $2,263. Since April 2022, the average rent for an unfurnished, one-bedroom unit in Metro Vancouver has increased by $355, or +18.61%.

Planning on raising rent this year? B.C.’s Annual allowable rent increase limit for 2023 is 2.0%. Find out when and how you can increase rent and ensure you’re complying with provincial guidelines by reading our updated Guide to B.C. Rent Increases.

Month-to-month rent change

To get a better sense of how prices changed in Metro Vancouver’s individual cities, let’s break down the major changes for both furnished and unfurnished units this April.

This month, a number of Metro Vancouver municipalities saw large changes to their average rental prices for unfurnished, one-bedroom units. Coquitlam, West Vancouver, and Surrey had the most significant increases this month, while the only two month-to-month declines occurred in New Westminster and Vancouver.

For furnished units, the majority of communities saw a decline in their average rates. Surrey and New Westminster were the most notable examples of this, while Vancouver, North Vancouver, and West Vancouver were the only exceptions to these declines.

Rent per square foot

Where’s the cheapest place to rent in Metro Vancouver by how much space you get? For April 2023, the least expensive cities for square footage are West Vancouver, Surrey, Coquitlam, and Langley while the most expensive cities for square footage are Burnaby, Vancouver, and North Vancouver.

Active listing data

New for 2023, we’ll be looking at 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 get assess how much competition you’ll face based on the current supply.

Active listings by property type

For April 2023, the most common rental property type by far was apartments, representing 77.35% of active listings on the market. Partial houses (e.g. basement suites) were the second-most rented unit type this month, at 12.25% of active listings currently available to rent.

Active listings by number of bedrooms

In terms of the number of bedrooms, we saw a more even spread across active listings on the market this month. Two-bedroom units were the most common type of listing this month at 45.53%, though one-bedroom units still represented 39.66% of all active listings on the market.

Average unfurnished vs. furnished rates

Average prices for furnished units fell this month while rates for unfurnished, one-bedroom rentals have risen. This April, unfurnished one-bedroom units are, on average, $210 less expensive than furnished units. This indicates that landlords who choose to rent their units furnished will be able to charge more for rent, likely as a result of increased demand for short-term rentals heading into the summer months.

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.

• Average rent prices for one-, two-, and three-bedroom, unfurnished units in Vancouver all fell this April.
• West Vancouver had the most expensive two- and three-bedroom, furnished and unfurnished units this April.
• Langley had the least expensive average rent costs for one-bedroom units this April, both furnished and unfurnished.

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. Downtown remains Vancouver’s most expensive neighbourhood this April at an average of $2,830 for an unfurnished, one-bedroom unit. The same type of unit rented for an average of $2,110 in Vancouver’s cheapest neighbourhood, Strathcona-Grandview Woodland.

We’ve recently 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, as well as full information for other cities in Metro Vancouver, be sure to download your copy of our full report here.

Most expensive cities in Canada

This April, four of Canada’s top five most expensive cities to rent in are in Metro Vancouver. West Vancouver is now the country’s most expensive place to rent, with Vancouver in second place this month. North Vancouver and Burnaby also make the list, while Markham is the only city outside of B.C. to rank in the top five.

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.

Income-to-rent ratio

Each month, we gather data on renters’ income-to-rent ratio and our most recent data shows that renters in Vancouver who use liv.rent are paying, on average, 39.43% of their income towards rent. This may be considerably above the recommended amount but isn’t an anomaly given the past few months’ numbers.

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 – especially as prices continue their rapid climb due to Canada’s rising interest rates.

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.

Renter demographics

On liv.rent, our renter demographics have seen a significant shift over the past year, 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+ as well as increased representation from the younger, under-25 demographic. 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 have just 25.00% of units available that were pet-friendly while on liv.rent, 53.00% of all listed units were pet-friendly.

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

Data collection methodology

Rethink The Way You Rent

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

March 2023 Metro Vancouver Rent Report
March 2023 Toronto Rent Report
March 2023 Calgary & Edmonton Rent Report
March 2023 Montreal Rent Report