November 2023 Metro Vancouver Rent Report

At a glance

• This November, the average monthly rent price for a one-bedroom, unfurnished unit in Metro Vancouver has decreased by $44. This is the second consecutive month the area’s rent prices have fallen.
• The average rate for an unfurnished, one-bedroom unit in the city of Vancouver has dropped by -5.69% this month.
• Average rent prices for one-bedroom, unfurnished units fell in every city/municipality except for West Vancouver this month.

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

Metro Vancouver’s region-wide rental rates have dropped again this November. As demand begins to ease heading into the cold winter months, the area has seen its second consecutive month-to-month decrease and just its fourth drop all year. The Bank of Canada announced on October 25th that it would once again maintain the target overnight rate, which may have impacted falling rental rates across B.C.

We’ve 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 November 2023. Don’t forget, you can download the entire report as a PDF below.

Average rent across Metro Vancouver

This November, Metro Vancouver’s average rent prices have dropped for the second straight month. This month, the average monthly rent price for an unfurnished, one-bedroom unit fell by $44, to a new average of $2,362. Compared to November 2022, Metro Vancouver’s average rate for a one-bedroom, unfurnished unit is only $45 higher this year.

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 November.

This month, some prominent areas saw significant drops in their average rental prices for unfurnished units. Looking just at one-bedroom, unfurnished units, Vancouver (-5.69%) stands out as the most notable example of this, with similar changes seen in Richmond (-5.64%) and Langley (-5.31%) as well. In terms of month-to-month increases, West Vancouver (+6.13%) was the only city where prices for unfurnished, one-bedroom units increased on average.

Similarly, average rent prices for furnished, one-bedroom units in Metro Vancouver municipalities mostly fell with only a few exceptions. Vancouver (-4.50%), North Vancouver (-4.48%), and West Vancouver (-4.12%) all saw large drops in their rates this month, while on the other hand, Langley (+13.78%) saw a huge month-to-month increase.

Rent per square foot

Where’s the cheapest place to rent in Metro Vancouver for how much space you get? As of November 2023, the least expensive cities for square footage are Coquitlam, Langley, Richmond, and Surrey 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 November 2023, the most common rental property type by far was apartments, representing 74.00% of active listings on the market. Partial houses (e.g. basement suites) were the second-most rented unit type this month, at 14.30% 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 November. Two-bedroom units were the most common type of listing this month at 47.98%, though one-bedroom units still represented 37.42% of all active listings on the market.

Average unfurnished vs. furnished rates

Average prices for both furnished and unfurnished, one-bedrooms units fell this month. This November, unfurnished one-bedroom units are, on average, $245 less expensive than furnished units. This indicates that landlords who choose to rent their units furnished will be able to charge more for rent, on average, while also capitalizing on heightened demand for short-term rentals.

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.

• North Vancouver had the most expensive furnished, one-bedroom units to rent this month, at an average of $3,320/month.
• Unfurnished, three-bedroom units cost an average of $6,664/month to rent in West Vancouver this month.
• Average rent prices for one-bedroom, unfurnished units fell in every city/municipality except for West Vancouver 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. Downtown just edges out West Point Grey/UBC as Vancouver’s most expensive neighbourhood to rent in this November at an average of $2,986 per month for an unfurnished, one-bedroom unit. The same type of unit rents for an average of $2,114 in Vancouver’s cheapest neighbourhood, Hastings-Sunrise.

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 November, four of Canada’s most expensive cities to rent in are in Metro Vancouver while one Ontario city also makes the top five. West Vancouver is the most expensive city in the country to rent in, while Vancouver, North Vancouver, and White Rock also make the list. For the second month, Markham rounds out this month’s most expensive cities to rent in.

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, 51.28% 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 November.

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 notable increases in 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 November, 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:

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