Victoria apartment rents are a mixed bag

Rents for a one-bedroom apartment in Victoria may have topped out.

But, apparently there's still room for two-bedroom rents to go higher.

In September, the median rent on a typical one-bedroom apartment in Victoria was $1,600, a 4% slip from the record-high $1,670 it was at in August.

That sees Victoria slide from fourth to fifth most expensive city in the country to rent a one-bedroom.

Kelowna moved up one spot to take fourth place.

So that means the four cities in Canada with more expensive rents for a one-bed are Vancouver at $2,130, Toronto at $1,800, Barrie with $1,700 and Kelowna at $1,610.

Meantime, rent for a typical two-bedroom in Victoria is at an all-time high of $2,150, up 1.4% from August and 9% more than September 2020.

Only four cities have more excessive rents on two-beds -- Vancouver with $2,900, Toronto at $2,250, Kelowna with $2,180 and Barrie at $1,850.

These figures come from Zumper (formerly PadMapper), the platform that lists apartments for rent and also compiles the monthly Canadian National Rent Report by analyzing hundreds of thousands of apartment-for-rent listings.

Many factors are at work to keep Victoria's rents into the stratosphere.

Not a lot of apartments are for rent in Victoria any given month, which means supply is squeezed, yet demand is high, a scenario that pushes prices upwards.

The city is a desirable place to live, work, play and invest, so lots of people are moving to and around Victoria in search of an ideal place they can afford.

Despite the pandemic, Victoria's economy is vibrant and is attracting entrepreneurs, professionals, government workers and high-tech workers who can afford high housing prices.

The waves of university and college students from out of town also put demand on rentals and propelsprices.

Plus, rents generally mirror the trends in the home buying market.

In August, the benchmark selling prices of a typical condominium in Victoria was a record-high

$545,900, a 13.3% hike over last year.

These kinds of prices and rents and increasing inflation spotlights Victoria's unaffordability.

Many average workers have trouble paying the city's costly apartment rents, let alone be able to come up with a downpayment and support the mortgage on a condo.

That means in order to secure a place some young workers need help from the bank of mom and dad, work two jobs or have to take in a roommate.

https://www.zumper.com/blog/rental-price-data-canada/