June 2023 Metro Vancouver Rent Report

At a glance

• The average monthly rent for a one-bedroom, unfurnished unit in Metro Vancouver has risen by $12 – bringing the region’s average cost to $2,330 this June.
• In the city of Vancouver, rent now costs an average of $4.02/sq. ft. per month compared to the region-wide average of $3.06/sq. ft.
• Average rent prices for three-bedroom, unfurnished units increased in every Metro Vancouver municipality this June.

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

As the summer renting season ramps up, Metro Vancouver’s region-wide average rent prices continue to increase as well this June. Looking forward to the upcoming June 7th announcement from the Bank of Canada, it remains to be seen whether the country’s target overnight rate will increase. If so, this could put more pressure on landlords to hike rates further, especially coupled with the increased demand expected throughout the summer and into the fall of 2023.

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 June 2023. Don’t forget, you can download the entire report as a one-page infographic PDF below.

Average rent across Metro Vancouver

Though less dramatic than last month, rental rates continue to climb higher this June as Metro Vancouver’s region-wide average rent prices for an unfurnished, one-bedroom unit rise for the third consecutive month. This June, the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom, unfurnished unit has risen by another $12 – bringing the region’s average cost to $2,330. Since June 2022, the average rent for an unfurnished, one-bedroom unit in Metro Vancouver has increased by $274.

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 June.

For June, a number of Metro Vancouver municipalities saw notable changes to their average rental prices for unfurnished, one-bedroom units. Burnaby (+5.49%) and Coquitlam (+5.44%) saw the most significant increases, while prices fell in West Vancouver (-4.40%) and Langley (-4.21%) after increasing during the previous month. In Vancouver, the average price for a one-bedroom, unfurnished unit rose (2.79%).

Prices for furnished units increased in Metro Vancouver’s individual cities with only one exception. The largest of these increases occurred in New Westminster (+16.04%), Langley (+7.19%) and Surrey (5.65%). The only decrease was seen in Coquitlam (-4.06%) while prices remain unchanged in West Vancouver (0.00%).

Rent per square foot

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

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 June 2023, the most common rental property type by far was apartments, representing 76.91% of active listings on the market. Partial houses (e.g. basement suites) were the second-most rented unit type this month, at 12.00% 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 48.78%, though one-bedroom units still represented 37.54% of all active listings on the market.

Average unfurnished vs. furnished rates

Average prices for both furnished & unfurnished, one-bedroom units rose this month. This June, unfurnished one-bedroom units are, on average, $193 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 monthly rent prices for three-bedroom, unfurnished units increased in every Metro Vancouver municipality this June.
• Langley had the least expensive one-bedroom, furnished & unfurnished units this month while Surrey had the least expensive two- and three-bedroom units.
• West Vancouver had the most expensive unfurnished units this month, for one-, two- and three-bedroom properties.

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 is Vancouver’s most expensive neighbourhood to rent in this June at an average of $2,741 for an unfurnished, one-bedroom unit. The same type of unit rents for an average of $2,237 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 full information for other cities in Metro Vancouver, be sure to download your copy of our full report here.

Most expensive cities in Canada

For the second straight month, all five of Canada’s most expensive cities to rent in are in Metro Vancouver. West Vancouver is still the country’s most expensive place to rent, with Vancouver in second place this month. Burnaby and North Vancouver also make the list, with Richmond rounding out this ranking.

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, 44.87% 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 – especially as prices continue their rapid climb due to Canada’s rising interest rates and increased demand throughout the summer renting season.

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 the majority of users are still aged 24-34, we’ve been seing more and more younger renters under 25, as well as increases in users over 44 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 June, other rental platforms have just 26.00% of units available that were pet-friendly while on liv.rent, 51.00% 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

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

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