December 2023 Metro Vancouver Rent Report

At a glance

• The average monthly rent price for a one-bedroom, unfurnished unit in Metro Vancouver has decreased by $21 this December to a new regional rate of $2,341.
• Vancouver is the most expensive city to rent in the country, with an average rent price of $2,659/month for an unfurnished one-bedroom unit.
• Dunbar-Arbutus had the highest rent prices among Vancouver neighbourhoods, with an average rate of $3,514 for an unfurnished one-bedroom unit.

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

Average rent prices in Metro Vancouver continue to fall this December. Demand has dropped significantly since the busy summer renting months, and the region’s rental rates have hit their lowest point since June. The Bank of Canada announced on October 25th that it would once again maintain the target overnight rate, which may have played a role in falling rent prices across B.C. and much of Canada.

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

Average rent across Metro Vancouver

Metro Vancouver’s average rent prices have fallen for the third straight month. This December, the average monthly rent price for an unfurnished, one-bedroom unit fell by $21, to a new average of $2,341. Compared to December 2022, Metro Vancouver’s rental rate for a one-bedroom, unfurnished unit has increased by $114, on average.

Planning on raising rent in the new year? B.C.’s annual allowable rent increase limit for 2024 is 3.5%. 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 rent prices changed in Metro Vancouver’s individual cities, let’s break down the major changes for both furnished and unfurnished units this December.

Compared to November, most municipalities’ rent prices were relatively stable this month. Looking solely at one-bedroom, unfurnished units, West Vancouver (-4.62%) and Surrey (-2.77%) experienced the most notable month-to-month declines, while comparatively small increases were seen in Richmond (+2.30%) and Coquitlam (+1.47%).

Furnished units also had few significant changes in average rent price between November and December. The largest drops in rates occurred in Langley (-3.72%), Burnaby (-3.48%), and North Vancouver (-2.35%). In terms of month-to-month increases, the most notable were in West Vancouver (+3.18%) and Surrey (+2.32%).

Rent per square foot

Where’s the cheapest place to rent in Metro Vancouver for how much space you get? As of December 2023, the least expensive cities for square footage are Langley, Surrey, and Coquitlam, while the most expensive cities for square footage are Vancouver, Burnaby, and New Westminster.

Active listing data

We’ll also take a look 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 assess how much competition you’ll face based on the current supply.

Active listings by property type

For December 2023, the most common rental property type by far was apartments, representing 75.74% of active listings on the market. Partial houses (e.g. basement suites) were the second-most rented unit type this month, at 13.12% of active listings currently available to rent.

Active listings by number of bedrooms

In terms of the number of bedrooms, we saw a much more even spread across active listings on the market this December. Two-bedroom units were the most common type of listing this month at 47.54%, though one-bedroom units still represented 39.74% of all active listings on the market.

Average unfurnished vs. furnished rates

Average prices for both furnished and unfurnished, one-bedroom units fell slightly this month. As of this December, unfurnished one-bedroom units are, on average, $264 less expensive than furnished one-bedroom units. This indicates that landlords who choose to rent their units furnished will typically be able to charge more for rent.

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. Here are some highlights from our most recent findings:

• North Vancouver had the most expensive furnished, one-bedroom units to rent this month, at an average of $3,242/month.
• Prices for three-bedroom unfurnished units fell in every municipality/city except for Coquitlam this December.
• Langley had the lowest average rent prices for furnished & unfurnished one-bedroom units.

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. Dunbar-Arbutus is Vancouver’s most expensive neighbourhood to rent in by far this month, with an unfurnished one-bedroom unit renting for $3,514/month on average. The same type of unit rents for an average of $2,206 in Vancouver’s cheapest neighbourhood, Renfrew-Collingwood.

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 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 December, four of Canada’s most expensive cities to rent in are in Metro Vancouver while one Ontario city also makes the top five. Vancouver is the most expensive city in the country to rent in, while West Vancouver, North Vancouver, and Richmond also make the list. For the third month, Markham rounds out this month’s most expensive cities to rent in with the fourth-highest prices in the country.

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, 37.79% of their income towards rent. This may be considerably above the recommended amount but isn’t an anomaly given the past few months’ average rental rates.

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, despite a drop-off in prices this December.

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 are fairly balanced across all different age groups. While many of our users are aged 25-34, there’s an almost equal representation of renters under 25, as well as a notable amount of users over 35 years of age.

Pet-friendly rentals

We’re proud to say that liv.rent continues to be the rental platform with the most pet-friendly rentals. This December, other rental platforms have just 24.00% of units available that were pet-friendly while on liv.rent, 56.00% of all listed units were pet-friendly.

Downloadable resources

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

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

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