In the short year and a half that I have been creating podcasts and Youtube videos on real estate, I have found myself very lucky in that my guests have always been interesting and educational. I always learn a lot and I always enjoy my time spent interviewing people; when you pay attention, you can find some intriguing nuggets everywhere.
Now, I have to admit, talking about rental rates did not strike me as a topic full of gold nuggets, but I was wrong again. I had the pleasure of interviewing Mr. Paul Danison from rentals.ca yesterday. Rentals.ca is a site that tracks available residential rental space across Canada and enables renters and landlords to connect to rent space. Every month, rentals.ca puts out their market report detailing average rental rates in 35 Canadian cities. You can see the report on their website, and I’ve posted the image here as well, so I won’t go into excruciating details in this blog, but I would like to comment on a couple of the more interesting nuggets (including one surprise, don’t you just love surprises?) I discovered involving the more common amenities tenants are seeking, and common incentives landlords are using.
You can get full details in about a month when my full interview with Paul is published on my Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXEofcBsBQuWWjVMtymh2IA and my audio podcast https://www.rwofre.ca/
Most/Least Expensive Cities To Live In
So, no surprise, number 1 and number 2 most expensive cities in Canada in which to live are Vancouver and Toronto, respectively.
Vancouver came in at $2,280 for a one bedroom and a whopping $3,122 for a two bedroom apartment, up 13.9% and 17.6% respectively, year over year.
Toronto was only slightly better at $2,023 for a one bedroom and $2,776 for a two bedroom, up 11% and 12.5% Y/Y.
Calgary took up number 24 on the list, just behind Scarborough and Kingston, ON. In Calgary, one bedrooms average $1,361 per month and two bedrooms go for an average of $1,619, both up approximately 10% Y/Y.
Out of 35 cities, Edmonton came in 30th, with one bedroom rents averaging $1,017 and two bedrooms bringing in $1,260. Those numbers are up negligibly year over year (0.3% and 2% respectively.
The big surprise was Halifax, Nova Scotia, holding down 13th position in amongst numerous Ontario cities. Apparently, a lot of Toronto and Vancouver folks are discovering that it is a beautiful city in which to live and is much more affordable than their previous cities. Halifax one bedrooms go for $1,641 per month and two bedrooms fetch $2.064, both numbers up about 17% year over year.
Be sure to check below the graphic for comments on amenities and incentives.
Popular Amenities and Incentives
I guess really no surprise, pet-friendly homes are becoming very desirable. Covid probably helped that along but our furry friends are becoming part of the family these days.
While incentives aren’t that common in this market, one of the more popular incentives over the last couple years has been a year of free wifi. Another has been free parking for a period of time.
While all the different incentives all tend to approximate one month’s rent, it’s all in how you package it. A year of free wifi, or a few months’ free parking sounds so much more convenient and cool than a boring one month of free rent.
So there you have it, you have to wait a month for my full interview with Paul (including a full list of amenities and incentives) and I have to wait several months to get to see Halifax.
That's it for now, everyone. Let's keep real estate real.
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